Wieniawski, Stieler (World Premiere) & Polaczyk

A part of the 2026 POLISH HERITAGE FESTIVAL:
Celebrating the heritage of Henryk Wieniawski in the United States:

Violin Concerto no. 2, op. 22…………………………….Henryk Wieniawski

Violin Concerto no. 1 (World Premiere)………………Bernard Stieler

Pacierz Staropolski for Baritone and Orchestra…..Jakub Polaczyk

Adrian Sylveen – violin
Laurentiu Rotaru – bass-baritone

Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Przemyslaw Stanislawski, guest conductor

Bernard Stieler (born August 16, 1951, in Poland) is a composer and violinist. He studied composition with Professor Andrzej Koszewski at the State Higher School of Music in Poznań (now the Academy of Music) from 1973 to 1978. His musical career began in 1970 with the vocal-instrumental ensemble Millenium, associated with the Dominican community in Poznań. He subsequently collaborated with numerous church choirs and ensembles throughout Poland, including the Dominican Sacrosong Group (1978–1982), with which he participated in celebrations surrounding Pope John Paul II’s first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979. His cantata Redemptor Hominis, composed in honor of the Pope’s election, was performed in Kraków during that historic visit. He also participated in musical events accompanying the Pope’s second pilgrimage in 1983. Stieler worked as a violinist with the Poznań Philharmonic, the Pilska Chamber Orchestra, and the Karol Kurpiński Greater Poland Symphony Orchestra. Since retiring from performing in 2012, he has devoted himself exclusively to composition. His extensive output encompasses instrumental, vocal, and choral music, including a Violin Concerto, two piano concertos, works for horn, sixteen Masses, two papal cantatas, and more than 300 songs, including numerous settings of Ave Maria. He has also composed 25 children’s symphonies for string orchestra. His compositions have received numerous awards and distinctions in national competitions in Poland. His works are published by POLIHYMNIA Music Publishing House.

Jakub Polaczyk is a Polish-born, New York-based composer, pianist, educator, and cultural advocate whose music is celebrated for its imaginative synthesis of contemporary techniques, classical traditions, and diverse cultural influences. Drawing inspiration from spirituality, ritual, history, and intercultural dialogue, his works create distinctive sonic landscapes that balance expressive lyricism with innovative musical language. He has been recognized internationally for a body of work that reflects both his Polish heritage and a global artistic perspective. Polaczyk studied at the Jagiellonian University and the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków before continuing his education at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. His teachers included notable figures such as Krzysztof Penderecki and Reza Vali. His compositions have been presented at major festivals and conferences across Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia, and performed by leading ensembles and orchestras at venues including Carnegie Hall and other prominent concert halls worldwide. Polaczyk has received numerous distinctions, among them the American Prize in Composition and multiple international awards recognizing both his creative achievements and artistic leadership. In addition to his career as a composer and pianist, Polaczyk serves on the faculty of The New York Conservatory of Music, contributing actively to musical education and cultural life in New York and beyond.

Przemyslaw Stanislawski was born in Poznań, where he began his musical education at age six. He graduated in music theory from the Academy ofMusic in Poznań and in symphonic-opera conducting from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw under Prof. Henryk Czyż. In 1983, Stanislawski founded the male vocal ensemble “Affabre Concinui,” serving as its artistic director until 1992. He worked as an assistant conductor at the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz (1986–1991), where he also established the Polish Chamber Choir. As a conductor, he has performed internationally—including in Belgium, France, Spain, Japan, and the USA—with orchestras such as Camerata Academia, Warsaw Chamber Orchestra, Polish Sinfonietta, and various Polish philharmonics. Notable career highlights include conducting G. Ligeti’s Requiem at the Flanders Music Festival (1991), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Nantes (1992), representing Poland at EXPO 92 in
Seville, and performing Bach and Stravinsky at the Kyoto International Music Festival (1993). Since October 1993, he has taught at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk, directing cantata-oratorio and opera ensembles, and teaching symphonic-opera conducting since 2017. He has prepared dozens of opera and oratorio premieres, including several Polish and world premieres by composers like Handel, Hasse, Kassern, Menotti, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Stanislawski has recorded extensively for radio, television, and CD. From 1995 to 2000, he collaborated with the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music Orchestra. Since 2010, he has been the artistic director of the Crown Tribunal Choir and Orchestra in Lublin, and led the Camerata Lubelska from 2011 to 2015, conducting numerous world premieres. In 2018, he arranged and conducted Adam Walicki’s musical setting of the Millennium Bible for KUL’s centenary concert, “I Am,” featuring prominent Polish artists.

Romanian-born bass-baritone Laurentiu Rotaru is an acclaimed performer whose career spans opera, concert, and oratorio repertoire. Trained at the Conservatory of Bucharest, he performed with the National Opera of Bucharest before establishing himself in the United States. A resident of Connecticut, he holds degrees in music performance from Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut. Mr. Rotaru has appeared with numerous opera companies and orchestras throughout North America and Europe, including Connecticut Lyric Opera, Connecticut Virtuosi, Virtuosi OPERA, Mississippi Opera, Shreveport Opera, Opera Theater of Connecticut, and Cleveland Opera Circle. His repertoire includes such distinguished bass roles as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), and Méphistophélès (Faust). A prizewinner in several vocal competitions, including the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition and the Connecticut Guild Opera Competition, Rotaru made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2004. Equally at home in sacred and symphonic repertoire, he is a sought-after interpreter of major works such as Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, and Dvořák’s Requiem.

Award-winning musician, Adrian Sylveen enjoys a performing career in the United States and Europe. He is a founder and artistic director of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra (USA) and the Greve Opera Academy and Chamber Music Festival (Italy). He also appears frequently with Teatro Lirico D’Europa (USA) and Camerata Gdynia (Poland). Mr. Sylveen has conducted approximately 35 operatic titles and has an extensive orchestral and oratorio repertoire. He has conducted and performed concerts in the United States, Poland, Italy, Israel, Cuba, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the former Soviet Union. Between 2004-2024, Mr. Sylveen was a co-founder, artistic director, and the principal conductor of the Connecticut Lyric Opera, which he developed from a local group into a regionally recognized performing arts company. He worked with such ensembles as Israeli Chamber Orchestra, Olsztyn Philharmonic, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Classical Orchestra of Piła (Poland), Associazione Il Contrappunto (Italy), Holguín Symphony Orchestra (Cuba), Orchestra da Camera di Greve-In-Chianti (Italy), Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, the New Britain Chorale, Coro di teatro Garibaldi, Chór Akademii Staszica (Piła, Poland), among others. A winner of many prizes 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 and received permanent US residence for “Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts”. Mr. Sylveen holds DMA degree from the Gdansk Music Academy, Master of Music and Artist Diploma degrees from the Yale University School of Music; he is also a graduate of the Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan, Poland (diploma with distinction). During the school years, he participated in several international Festivals in Weimar, Łancut, Żagań, and others.