Photo: © Peter SchaafJanina Fialkowska – February 26, 2020 Bourgie Hall LiveEvents February 18, 2020 2147 Sensational Wednesday Series JANINA FIALKOWSKA For over 40 years, concert pianist Janina Fialkowska has enchanted audiences and critics around the world. She has been praised for her musical integrity, her refreshing natural approach and her unique piano sound thus becoming “one of the Grandes Dames of piano playing” (Frankfurter Allgemeine). © Julien Faugère / ATMA Born in Canada, she began her piano studies with her mother at age 4 continuing on in her native Montreal with Yvonne Hubert. In Paris she studied with Yvonne Lefébure and in New York at the Juilliard School with Sascha Gorodnitzki, experiencing the best of both French and Russian piano traditions. Her career was launched in 1974, when the legendary Arthur Rubinstein became her mentor after her prize-winning performance at his inaugural Master Piano Competition, calling her a “born Chopin interpreter” laying the foundation for her lifelong identification with this composer. Since then she has performed with the foremost orchestras worldwide under the baton of such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Sir Georg Solti, Sir Roger Norrington and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to name one of the younger generation. She has won special recognition for a series of important premieres, notably Liszt’s newly discovered Third Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony and several contemporary piano concertos. Ms Fialkowska’s discography includes many award-winning discs, e.g. the BBC Music Magazine’s 2013 “Instrumental CD of the Year” award as well as the Canadian “Juno Award” in 2018. Her native Canada has bestowed upon her their highest honors: “Officer of the Order of Canada”, the “Governor General’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award in Classical Music” (Canada’s equivalent to the US Kennedy Centre Awards), as well as three honorary doctorates. She passes on her wide musical experience in master classes and at her annual “International Piano Academy” in Bavaria, where she now resides and makes frequent appearances as a juror of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions. Program TAILLEFERRE Impromptu in E major FAURÉ Nocturne No. 4 in E-flat major POULENC Intermezzo in A-flat major DEBUSSY Poissons d’or and Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir RAVEL Sonatine CHOPIN Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39 Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2 Three Mazurkas Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 Information It is possible to purchase either individual tickets for this concert, or the Sensational Wednesday package, a unique cultural experience to fully enjoy the Museum in all its diversity. SENSATIONAL WEDNESDAY From 3:30 pm to 5 pm: An exclusive guided tour of the MMFA’s permanent collections. From 5 pm to 7 pm: A three-course dinner at the Beaux-arts restaurant. From 7:15 pm to 9:30 pm: At Bourgie Hall, the remarkable pianist Janina Fialkowska performs a sublime program of French music. Wednesday, February 26th 2020 at 7:30pm Duration: 1 Hrs 30 Min For tickets and information: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/concerts 514-285-2000