Stars of the biggest Polish music competitions: South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim, winner of the second prize at the 15th International Violin Competition in Poznań (2016), and winner of the 15th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Rafał Blechacz. A great meeting of two musical personalities.
On the second day of the final auditions, when Bomsori Kim performed Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, her execution resulted in the audience that filled the Poznań University Auditorium to divide into two opposing groups. Proponents of the interpretation of the South Korean artist shouted ecstatically "bravo!", "bravo!" while the other half were in favour of the performance of the same piece the day before by Veriko Tchumburidze. The emotions music can evoke and what emotions that young artist’s play evokes is amazing. She has never rested and in 2017 recorded an album for Warner Classics under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk (the Shostakovich Concerto included).
Although Rafał Blechacz’s competition emotions have long since passed (when he won in Warsaw in 2005), his play also continues to electrify audiences in Poland and abroad. He was noticed by world music critics and has performed with famous symphony orchestras. He has been recording for reputable Deutsche Grammophon for years. Of course, the competition defined his artistic emploi in the direction of Fryderyk Chopin's music, but since then Rafał Blechacz has broadened the scope of his works. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy, Szymanowski – here are other stops on his artistic journey. A spectacular accent summarizing the years of the artist's work since the famous triumph at the Chopin Competition, is, in fact, the honour he received in the form of an American award – a Gilmore in 2014, which is often referred to as the "pianists’ Nobel prize".
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Mikołaj Rykowski PhD
Musicologist and clarinetist, doctorate, and associate at the Department Music Theory at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. Author of a book and numerous articles devoted to the phenomenon of Harmoniemusik – the 18th-century practice of brass bands. Co-author of the scripts "Speaking concerts" and author of the spoken introductions to philharmonic concerts in Szczecin, Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Łódź.
