THE SHADOWS OF OUR DESTINY

“WE THE PEOPLE” Immigrant stories in music – part 9

Jakub Polaczyk: Slavic Streams : “Śmiętlana” (world premiere)
Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (arr. for chamber orchestra)
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E minor
SOLOIST:Brunilda Myftaraj, violin
Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Adrian Sylveen, artistic director and conductor

Albanian-American violinist Brunilda Myftaraj has drawn enthusiastic accolades from audiences and critical acclaim for her masterful musicianship in Albania, Italy, Greece, France, Morocco, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, and the United States. She has been praised by the critics as an “especially fine and beautiful player.” Myftaraj’s teachers are some of the world’s finest, but her true inspiration comes from her audiences and students. Since 2023 Mrs. Myftaraj is a member of The Berkshire Bach Society. Her recordings of“Naked Violin” and “The American Pie” received impeccable reviews from Fanfare magazine.

Jakub Polaczyk, born in Kraków, Poland, is a New York-based composer and pianist. Double Silver Medal winner of the Global Music Awards (2023), Winner of the 2020 American Prize in Composition, and 2013 Iron Instant Composer Award in Cleveland, OH. He graduated from Jagiellonian University, Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, and Carnegie Mellon University, and as a Socrates-Erasmus exchange program, he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Since 2015, he has been teaching at the New York Conservatory of Music and, since 2018, has been a New Music Director of the Chopin and Friends Festival in NYC, directing the International Composition Competition “New Vision” and in 2020 Virtual NYDAI Quarantine Talks Series. Since 2021, Jakub has been hosting his “Coffees after Bach” program at the Polish Radio WRKL: AM910, NYC/AM1030, Chicago.