By Heidi Trautmann
It was one of those early summer evenings one never wants to end and from Kybele Restaurant at Bellapais Abbeye you could see St.Hilarion bathed in the soft glow of the sun setting in the sea. People enjoying an evening there or those who have come for the concert were equally touched by a rosy light and to me they looked most aware of it and in a festive mood.
It was the second concert of the Music Festival with Polish pianist Joanna Trzeciak. Already the first concert with the Hacettepe Chamber Orchestra and soloist Ilian Garnetz was a wonderful experience most appreciated by a full house, the proper festive frame for this year’s opening of the Bellapais Music Festival.
At the entrance of the concert hall we were welcomed by some members of the Music Foundation, Yilmaz Taner, Ilker and Rezzan Nevzat and Ali Yaliman (Media and PR) Coordinator and his wife Gülseren Sadak, herself a great concert pianist.
The programme included gems of music, Beethoven, six variations in F major Op 34; K.Szymanowski, Sheherazade from Masks Op 34; F. Chopin with Barcarole in F sharp major Op 60; J.N. Hummel with 12 variations on Vivat Bacchus from Entführung aus dem Serail in C major Op 34 Nr. 3 and finally Chopin with 4 Mazurkas Op 68 and Polonaise in F sharp minor Op 44.
The technique of Joanna Trzeciak’s piano recital surprised us all and I saw many a head lean forward with excitement and nod in confirmation. One tune she picked up and played it like a children’s rhyme, like a child plucking the blossom leaves and sending them flying, then she offered us an intellectual cool shower of impressions and finally opening to us her Polish soul. I thought this woman has no blood in her veins but only music and I envied her the closeness to the music she played. She made the music her own, she was offering herself. The applause was roaring and we got the present of two encores. I bought her CD so I can go on listening to her very special touch and interpretations.
Born in Krakow, Poland, Joanna Trzeciak began piano study at the age of seven and advanced to the Lyceum of Music, followed by the Warsaw Academy of Music where she obtained her diploma in 1976. Miss Trzeciak received financial support from the prestigious Frederic Chopin Society in Warsaw.
In 1977 - 1978, a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture allowed her to continue her studies at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1980, Miss Trzeciak was a laureate of the Festival of Polish Pianists in Slupsk. Since then she has given recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras throughout Poland as well as in Belgium, Italy, the Soviet Union, Holland, England, Switzerland, Germany and Yugoslavia.
She has recorded for Polish Radio and Television, BRT in Brussels and for Yugoslavian television. Her piano recordings include Polskie Nagrania, CC Centrum in Belgium and most recently in Germany.
Eight more concerts are waiting for us and you can believe me when Yilmaz Taner and his Music Foundation are planning the programme for a festival, now for 15 years, then it is to give us the best.
Tickets can be obtained in Bellapais at the ticket office, at the entrance, Kybele Restaurant or by calling the foundation under tel nos. 0533 8546417 or 0533 8630711.