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 is 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.

Award-winning musician Adrian Sylveen enjoys a performing career in the United States and Europe. He is an artistic director of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the co-founding music director of the Connecticut Lyric Opera. Mr. Sylveen has conducted approximately 35 operatic titles and has an extensive orchestral repertoire. He has conducted and performed concerts in the United States, Poland, Italy, Israel, Cuba, Switzerland, Germany, and the former Soviet Union and worked with such ensembles as the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Holguín Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Greve-In-Chianti, Olsztyn Philharmonic, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, and others. From 2011 to 2013, he was a conductor for the Magnum Opus series with the New Britain Symphony – The Connecticut Virtuosi. He is also a founder of the Classical Orchestra of Pila in Poland and the newly formed Hartford-based Moniuszko Choir (2016). Mr. Sylveen has won prizes at competitions in Europe and the United States. He received the American Council for Polish Culture Primus Inter Pares Award from the President of the Republic of Poland. He received permanent US residence for “Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts”.

Mr. Sylveen holds a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale University School of Music; he is also a graduate of the Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan, Poland (diploma with distinction). He has participated in several international Festivals in Weimar, Łancut, and others. Since 2012, he has been on the faculty of the Virtuosi Summer Music Institute in Farmington, Connecticut, and, since 2015, he has been the Artistic Director of the Greve Opera Academy and Chamber Music Festival in Greve-In-Chianti, Italy.