York music Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico launches her new CD with a concert

York music Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico launches her new CD Words Apart on April 7 with a performance at the Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph Street in Toronto.

Christina Petrowska Quilico

One of Canada’s foremost pianists, Petrowska Quilico is widely recognized as an innovative and adventurous artist and a leading champion of the music of our time. She has appeared in solo recitals, chamber settings and with orchestras on four continents. Much in demand as an interpreter of contemporary music, she has premiered more than 100 works, many written especially for her. A professor of piano performance and musicology at York since 1987, she frequently collaborates in live and recorded performances with her colleagues.

Worlds Apart, released on the CMC Centrediscs label is a two-CD compilation of performances of music by Canadian composers. Classics with a Twist features composers John Rea, Peter Paul Koprowski and Steven Gellman in works inspired by the romantic composers Schumann, Brahms and Chopin. The second CD, Worlds Apart, offers a more “edgy” look at music – by David Jaeger, Michel-Georges Brégent, Patrick Cardy, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux and Diana McIntosh. All were inspired in unique ways by literature and art from the past to create something fresh and modern, sometimes even violent and conflicted. The CDs include an incredible variety of styles, ranging from the virtuosic romantic to the radical improviser performing from graphic notation. These imaginative and engaging works reflect the breadth of genius in Canadian music.

Passion and sensitivity, phenomenal technique and “dazzling virtuosity” (New York Times) characterize pianist Petrowska Quilico, whether she is playing a Liszt piano solo, a Mozart chamber work, the Grieg concerto, or the premiere of a new work by a living composer. Her 47 plus CDs encompass contemporary works by Canadian and international composers as well as standard repertoire.

Tickets to this event are free with an RSVP, which can be submitted at https://goo.gl/36ZkDH.