Launch of 22nd CD, Pond Life – Tuesday, May 12
CHRISTINA PETROWSKA QUILICO
Pianist
"Ms. Petrowska is a formidable force in the Canadian music scene…she
is truly a gifted pianist…a beautiful work (Catbird Seat) and a beautiful
performance.", greeted the release of a Trappist Recording of
music by David Jaeger, by Jan Press Publications. In a feature article
in Fanfare Record Magazine, Christina Petrowska Quilico was headlined
as a "Renaissance woman...and a part-time lounge lizard".
She is not only one of Canada's foremost pianists, but also a most innovative
and adventurous one with eclectic programming. Her vast and diverse repertoire
is reflected in 14 recordings of classical, romantic, new and world music,
including a Juno-nominated CD with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
An unusually gifted and well-rounded performer, she has worked with leading
composers of the 20th century such as Pierre Boulez, Lowell Liebermann,
Luis de Pablo, John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, Krystof Penderecki, Karlheinz
Stockhausen among others, and from Canada composers such as Claude Vivier,
Christos Hatzis, Chris Paul Harmon, Glenn Buhr, Larysa Kuzmenko, Omar
Daniel, Alexina Louie, Heather Schmidt, Healey Willan and others, premiering
countless new works, many of which were written for her.
Her concerto performances with the Toronto Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony,
Ottawa Symphony and Taipei Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre
Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, Vancouver Chamber Orchestras, Kitchener-Waterloo
and many others, have earned her standing ovations. She has performed
with most new music groups and chamber ensembles in Canada. Her CD Virtuoso
Piano Music of Our Time made its debut on the Space Shuttle Columbia
with Canadian astronaut Steve Maclean.
Christina also recorded several CDs with her late husband, the legendary
Metropolitan Opera baritone Louis Quilico, and toured extensively with
him in concert. Her own solo tours have been highlighted by appearances
at major New York venues from Carnegie, Alice Tully and Town Halls to
the Museum of Modern Art and Merkin concert Hall. She has given recitals
in Europe, performing as well in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Greece
and Taiwan. A respected pedagogue, she is Professor of Piano and Musicology
at York University in Toronto, and an acclaimed author and artist of three
published books.
In 2002, Ms. Petrowska-Quilico performed Pierre Boulez's Piano Sonata
in a special concert at which Mo Boulez was awarded the Glenn Gould Prize
and for New Music Concerts in Toronto she performed Ligeti's Etudes,
Book 1 and 2. Recent performances include the world premiere and recording
of a new piano concerto by Ted Dawson in Taiwan, and a Canadian premiere
with the Thunder Bay Symphony, conducted by Geoffrey Moull. Her most recent
recital featured the world premiere of 16 Portraits by Michel-Georges
Bregent for Toronto's New Music Concert Series.
New recordings include an easy listening series of CDs entitled Brazilian
Tango Gems, Afro-Cuban Gems, Romantic Gems, Canadian Gems, Vocal Gems
as well as Northern Sirens, Mystic Streams, and Celestial Music.
Recently released is Gems with an Edge including works by Messiaen,
Boulez, Bregent, Davidovsky and Coulombe Saint-Marcoux. In 2005 a CBC "Portraits" recording of Ann Southam's "Rivers" is
scheduled for release.
