Dr. Blanka Bednarz

Artist Affiliate
Violin
Office Phone: (912) 478-5396

E-Mail: blanybednarz@hotmail.com

Education:
D.M.A., New England Conservatory
M.M., New England Conservatory (summa cum laude)
B.M., University of Kansas (summa cum laude)

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About Dr. Bednarz:

Blanka Bednarz enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, soloist, recitalist, concertmaster and teacher. She has concertized in Europe and the United States, appearing on stages such as Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Miller Hall, Philadelphia Ethical Society, and many others. She has appeared as a soloist with the Great Poland Symphony, Sinfonietta Polonia, the New England Conservatory Honors Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, and Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, among others. Bednarz was particularly influential in the establishment of the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra.

Bednarz is a winner in the Naftzger Young Artist Competition and took the second prize at the Jefferson Symphony Concerto Competition. She is a recipient of several awards, from the Presser Foundation, the St. Bololph Club Foundation and the Tourjée Society. Among artists with whom she has collaborated are Eric Rosenblith, Lawrence Lesser, Joanna Kurkowicz, Irina Muresanu, Adrian Levine, Timothy Deighton, Martin Storey, Barry Snyder, Ning An, the Corigliano Quartet, the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and Alarm Will Sound. Dr. Bednarz studied violin with Eric Rosenblith, Michele Auclair, Ben Sayevich and Jadwiga Kaliszewska, and viola with James Dunham. Her coaches were members of the Cleveland, Guarneri and Borromeo Quartets, James Buswell, Leon Kirchner and the late Eugene Lehner, among others.

Bednarz played with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Sinfonietta Polonia ( www.sinfoniettapolonia.pl ) a unique orchestral training program she and her husband/conductor Cheung Chau established in Poland. As a member of the Huntington Piano Trio, Bednarz performed at the Weill Recital Hall, on Boston's WGBH Radio and concert series, and on Polish Radio . Tygodnik Podhalanski described the trio's performance as 'beautifully sensitive,' and the Boston Globe praised its eloquent rendition of Kirchner's Second Trio. The trio released a CD under A.W. Promotions.

Performances of Atma Trio, formed in 2002 by Bednarz, cellist Cheung Chau and pianist Slawomir Dobrzanski ( www.atmatrio.org ), meet with critical acclaim. Gazeta Wyborcza praised, for instance, Bednarz's "passionate performance and artistic maturity."   A reviewer of the Radio Merkury noted "these are excellent musicians who truly know how to play chamber music."   The Trio performed under the auspices of the Szymanowski Association, the Chopin Foundation of the US and Ko?ciuszko Foundation, in venues and at festivals such as the Baltic Sea Culture Center, the White Hall, Wielkopolskie Centrum Chopinowskie, the Lawrence Conservatory, the Chopin and Friends, Wieniawski, Days of Szymanowski Festivals, etc. The Trio broke several attendance records in Poland, performing also in Lithuania, Germany, Sweden. Atma trio's CD is forthcoming on Preamble label. Bednarz may also be heard on Capstone Records in music by R. Y Gawlick. A CD of Mozart's Flute Quartets (E. Murawska, Bednarz, M. Murawski, Chau) was released in 2007 in Poland and received high praise in Twoja Muza.

Bednarz is Assistant Professor in Violin and Viola at Dickinson College (currently on leave) and teaches violin at Georgia Southern University.   She had served as a teaching assistant to Professor Rosenblith at the New England Conservatory, and had taught at the NEC Preparatory and Continuing Education School. She coached the NECCO with Donald Palma and chamber ensembles at the International Musical Arts Institute (IMAI) in Maine. She has also given master classes at NEC, for College and Preparatory Divisions, and at the University of Kansas, Lawrence Conservatory, Messiah College, Mercer University, Wichita State University, Penn State, etc.

In June 2007 Bednarz joined the Vega String Quartet in residence at Emory University in Atlanta. Highlights of the Quartet's season include performances at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, collaborations with Richard Stolzman, Mika Yoshida and the Serafin Quartet. This season Bednarz performs also with Atma Trio in Poland and Germany, in Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Connecticut Virtuosi, as well as pianists Rita Sloan and Matthew Bengtson.