The BPO celebrates 100 years of Polish independence with the debut of Warsaw-born Lukasz Krupiński. The remarkable young pianist,
winner of numerous prizes, graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and was mentored by last year’s prestigious
guest artist, Konrad Skolarski. Ignacy Jan Paderewski was not only one of his country’s most treasured performers and composers, but as Poland’s Prime Minister, he played a key role inestablishing independence for the country in 1918. As a pianist, he toured the world, with 30 tours of the U.S. alone.

Saturday - Come at 7 PM to hear directly from the artists in “Musically Speaking,” sponsored by Uniland Development.

Piotr Sulkowski, conductor
Lukasz Krupinski, piano

NOWOWIEJSKI Praetorian March from Quo Vadis
PADEREWSKI Piano Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 3, “Polish”

About Piotr Sulkowski

Since 2011, he has been the General and Artistic Director of the Warmia and Masuria Philharmonic.

He gained extensive opera experience  during his service as a Conductor (1995 – 2007) and later as the Artistic Director of the Cracow Opera (2006-07) and the Music Director of the Wildwood Opera Festival in Little Rock, Arkansas. He prepared a number of opera premieres, including several world premieres. In 2007, during the Polish Music Festival, being part of the Szymanowski Year, he gave the world premiere of yet unknown K. Szymanowski’s The Lottery for Husbands operetta and recorded it in co-operation with the Polish Music Publishing House (PWM). The Rape of Lucretia, by Britten, produced by Sulkowski in 2004, was recognized as the best performance of the year at the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival. Sulkowski co-founded the Cracow Chamber Opera and staged several productions there. In 2008-09, he worked as the Deputy Director of the Polish Radio Choir. Since 2009 to 2011 he was Artistic Director of the Torun Symphonic Orchestra. From 2008 to 2014, he was the First Guest Conductor of the Signature Symphony Orchestra in Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA).

Sulkowski has worked with many orchestras, teaches at Music Academy in Cracow and conducts at the Bydgoszcz Academy of Music. Since 1993, he has conducted the Orchestra of the F. Chopin State Secondary School of Music in Cracow with which he travels to France to run educational programmes for the French youth. In 2008, he conducted the Jubilee Concert on the Cracow’s Market Square, with the internationally renowned artist G. Zamfir. In 2010, he conducted a concert in the church of Saint Peter and Paul in Krakow, which inaugurated its Foundation National Pantheon. Sulkowski also produced the soundtrack with B. Chajdecki’s music for The Time of Honourhistorical film series.

In 2010, in Pamplona (Spain) he prepared the premiere of Bizet’s Carmen with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra and the Asociación Amigos de la Gayarre Ópera. In 2010 he also prepared the production of Beethoven’s Fidelio – Memory of the Holocaust project, which took place in main Polish cities. In 2011, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Warmia and Masuria travelled to Spain, where in Bilbao and Pamplona under his leadership was prepared performances of Puccini’s Tosca. In 2012, with the same orchestra and soloist Eduard Kunz began at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw series Great Piano Concertos. In 2011 he received his Ph.D. in 2015 habilitated doctor and in 2017 the associate professor of musical arts. In 2016 he led many concerts with the winners of the International Violin Competition. H. Wieniawski in Poland and at the International Violin Festival in St. Petersburg also with Maxim Vengerov. He undertakes many activities promoting Feliks Nowowiejski’s work. As part of the celebration of the Year of Feliks Nowowiejski 2016 he performed concerts with the oratorio “Quo Vadis” with the Orchestra of the Warmia and Masuria Philharmonic, Górecki Chamber Choir in Cracow, Barczewo, and in Warsaw. At the National Philharmonic there were outstanding Metropolitan Opera soloists: Aleksandra Kurzak, Artur Ruciński and Rafał Siwek with whom the recording was made.

Member of the Program Council of Radio Olsztyn (2012 – 2016). Sulkowski received an award from the President of Olsztyn Statuette of St. James in the field of culture for 2012.

About Lukasz Krupinski

Łukasz Krupiński is the winner of the 7th International Piano Competition in San Marino, and the winner of all contest prizes: the Audience Award, the Music Critics Award, and the Orchestra Award (September 2016). He is a finalist of the International Competition of Ferruccio Busoni in Bolzano (2017) and the winner of International Piano Competitions in Aachen (2016) and Hannover (2015).

In October 2015 Łukasz found himself in the prestigious group of the best 20 pianists of the 17th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition. His debut album Espressione was released in January 2017. It was inspired by his musical travels to Italy with works of Haydn, Chopin and Scriabin and received excellent reviews at Pizzicato Magazine, MDR Kultur, Radio Luxembourg, and Radio France.
Łukasz Krupiński has given numerous concerts in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, France, Norway, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, China, South Korea, Australia and the USA.
Two-time laureate of the “Pro Polonia” Foundation Award (2013, 2014), the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Prize for remarkable artistic accomplishments (2013, 2014), the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship (2015) and Krystian Zimerman Foundation Festival Bureau in Warsaw Scholarship (2015). In 2016 he was honoured with a Commemorative Medal of Frederic Chopin University of Music in recognition of artistic achievements.

Born in 1992 in Warsaw, Poland. Graduate of the Frederick Chopin University of Music in Warsaw under the supervision of Professor Alicja Paleta-Bugaj and Dr. Konrad Skolarski.