Photo Wojciech Grzędziński / NIMiT

Książek Piano Duo

Agnieszka Zahaczewska-Książek ? piano

Krzysztof Książek ? piano

The Książek Piano Duo was founded by Agnieszka Zahaczewska-Książek and Krzysztof Książek in 2012. The pianists initiated their musical collaboration under the guidance of Sławomir Cierpik at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, and they were subsequently tutored by Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska and Arie Vardi. They have performed together throughout Poland and in a number of places abroad: in Switzerland, France, Thailand, the United Kingdom and South Africa. In 2019, they garnered the second prize and a special prize at the Twenty-First International Schubert Competition for Piano Duos in Jesénik, and they were also finalists and won a special prize at the Third Suzana Szörenyi International Duo Competition in Bucharest. In 2020, the DUX label released their debut album with suites for two pianos by Anton Arensky and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Agnieszka Zahaczewska-Książek graduated from the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, where she studied with Stefan Wojtas. She has been studying at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice since 2015, initially with Wojciech Świtała and subsequently for her doctoral diploma with Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska. She is a member of a piano trio called Trio Legend. Krzysztof Książek was a semi-finalist and a winner of two additional prizes at the Seventeenth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2015, and a winner of the third prize and a special prize at the First International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw in 2018.

PROGRAMME

First Stage

?    Józef Elsner 

Sonata in B flat major for piano four hands, Op. 16

I. Adagio ? Allegro

II. Andante

III. Rondeau alla Pollaka

?    Juliusz Zarębski 

Deux Morceaux en forme de Mazurka for piano four hands, Op. 5

I. R?verie in C minor

II. Passion in G major

 

Final

?    Ignacy Friedman 

Fünf Walzer for piano four hands, Op. 51

I. Allegro comodo

II. Sciolto

III. Grazioso, non troppo vivo

IV. Quasi andante

V. Vivo e ben marcato

?    Moritz Moszkowski ?

 Kaleidoscope for piano four hands, Op. 74

I. Molto Allegro e con fuoco

II. Presto

III. Andante

IV. Allegro moderato e grazioso

V. Allegro con spirito

VI. Mesto

VII. Tempo di Valse

?    Roman Maciejewski 

Negro Spirituals for two pianos

IV. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

I. Listen to the Lambs

III. I Want to be Ready

?    Witold Lutosławski 

Variations on a theme by Paganini for two pianos