| The Director’s Series at St Peter’s presents: ‘An Organ Recitativo’ in the style of precursor recitals by Liszt and Moscheles featuring Director of Music, Maria Welna (www.mariawelna.com) on pipe organ and soprano Kornelia Perchy (www.korneliaperchy.com) in the role of guest artist. The perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Sydney’s lower north shore, the ‘recitativo’ will showcase a number of riveting musical performance concepts. By embarking on a historical journey spanning from the North German, through to the Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary, concert goers will be transported back to the performance style of 19th century virtuosos in the context of a programmatic exploration of virtuoso organ works intricately interwoven with vocal Lieder selections.
Representative pieces will include Buxtehude’s Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C Major, Bach’s Trio Sonata no 3 in D minor, BWV 527, Toccata Adagio Fugue in C major, BWV 564, organ and vocal works by Mendelssohn, Ravel, Mompou etc as well as excerpts from the Director’s compositions. However, a Lisztian concert would not be complete without active involvement from both the performer/s and listeners, therefore after the conclusion of the formal ‘recitativo’, all will have a chance to shine in an improvisatory demonstration on the 3 manual, 37-stop pipe organ. “As an audience member you will decide the form, whether this means touching the pipe organ for the first time in your life, trying out the pedals, stops etc.”
Maria Welna, a young Australian concert pianist, pipe organist, composer and singer commenced as Director of Music and Organist at St Peter’s earlier this year.
She has performed across a range of world-class venues (concert halls/cathedrals) in Australia, the USA, Poland and repeatedly played for dignitaries/personages such as the Archbishop Barry J. Hickey (Perth), Bishop Joseph Oudeman (Brisbane), Bishop John Bayton (Anglican Diocese Of Melbourne), Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Consul General of Poland in Australia, Archbishop Szczepan Wesoly from Rome, local Australian politicians and members of parliament.
Articles, editorials and comments about her artistic and musical endeavours have appeared across a broad range of local, state, national and international newspapers/other media outlets. Maria was interviewed and broadcast on local, state and national radio (for example, ABC Classic FM's 'Musica Viva Festival' coverage, 4MBS Classic FM’s Music Lover’s Choice with Howard Ainsworth, SBS, Bay FM). Throughout the years Maria has worked (either as part of master-classes/festivals or other forms of collaboration) with a plethora of fine concert pianists, organists, professors, and musicians from countries such as the USA, Australia, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland and Germany.
In June 2009 Maria completed a Bachelor of Music degree from the prestigious K. Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, Poland (renowned for its excellent faculty) mainly focusing on piano performance with additional emphasis on pipe organ (studying with concert organist/professor Julian Gembalski) and voice performance. The degree culminated in a public recital and the presentation/defence of a research thesis entitled: ‘The genesis and development of the solo piano recital as exemplified by the practises of selected virtuoso pianists of the 19th and 20th century’. She is currently in her final semester of postgraduate studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Master of Music in organ performance).
Other successes include the set up of a recital series (Chopin and Friends), two ‘live’ internationally selling CD’s, notable state and international competition wins/awards and several years of musical directorship commitments (in Perth, Krakow and Sydney).
|
Born in Hungary, accomplished lyric soprano Kornelia Perchy was raised surrounded by fine music. A passionate interest for music and singing developed very early in Kornelia’s life. After formal studies at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy’s Opera Faculty, the E`cole Normale de Musique de Paris, the prestigious G.Verdi Conservatorio di Milano (and master-classes in Paris and Budapest with a number of household names), Kornelia was invited to join the Hungarian State Opera as one of its principal artists in 2002 (amassing an exhaustive list of principal roles). Audiences and critics acknowledged her talents and versatility time and time again. Kornelia also regularly performed with the MAV Symphonic Orchestra and the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra at the Matthias Church in Budapest.
Kornelia has toured extensively both with the State Opera and as a solo performer (Japan, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, London, Italy, Israel, France etc). Her career has included a number of memorable events such as placing as a finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, the Placido Domingo Competition in Tokyo, the great honour of singing a selection of Bartok’s songs for Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands on the occasion of the Royal visit to Hungary, and singing for Mrs Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States of America in 2002. Kornelia also performed at the Hungarian embassies in London, Norway, U. S. A, Great Britain, Mexico and The Netherlands.
‘An Organ Recitativo’.In the style of precursor recitals by Liszt and Moscheles
Saturday, 17th September 2011, 3:00 pm
St Peter’s Anglican Church, Cremorne
Detailed Program:
D. Buxtehude Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C Major
J.S. Bach Trio Sonata no 3 in D minor, BWV 527
J.S. Bach Toccata Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy Sonata No. 6 in D minor, Op. 65
M. Welna Passacaglia in F minor
M. Welna. Pipe organ excerpts from Requiem for soprano and pipe organ (I. Introit)
Interwoven with
F. Mendelssohn Arie aus dem 95 Psalm
F. Mompou Damunt de tu nomes les flors
M. Ravel Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques
Entrance: $10
For more information please visit www.mariawelna.com and www.korneliaperchy.com respectively.
mpianist@westnet.com.au, mobile: 0433309707.
| 
