THE SHADOWS OF OUR DESTINY

“WE THE PEOPLE” Immigrant stories in music

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Jakub Polaczyk: Slavic Streams: “Śmiętlana” (world premiere)
Ottorino Respighi: “Il Tramonto” (The Sunset)
Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (arr. for chamber orchestra)
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E minor
SOLOISTS:
Brunilda Myftaraj, violin, Laura Andreini, soprano
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. The critics have praised her 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 has been a member of The Berkshire Bach Society. Her recordings of“Naked Violin” and “The American Pie” received impeccable reviews from Fanfare magazine.

Soprano Laura Andreini lives near Florence in the heart of Chianti.
In 2020, she celebrated her first ten years of a career as an opera singer, which has taken her around Italy and the world. Her suitcase is always ready, and her enthusiasm and passion have been cultivated through years of study in Italy, Arezzo, Siena, and abroad in the Netherlands and Switzerland. She has also performed in concerts, opera productions, and events in prestigious theaters and concert halls worldwide.

Jakub Polaczyk, born in Kraków, Poland, is a New York-based composer and pianist. Double Silver Medal winner of the Global Music Awards (2023), the 2020 American Prize in Composition winner, and the 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.