Chicago roots. Open minds. A world of shared sound.
On stage. In the moment.In the audience. Together.
A foundation for connection
We bring artists and audiences together through concerts, festivals, workshops, and educational programs. Rooted in Chicago and open to the world, Sounds and Notes makes room for musical discovery.
Our mission
Make space for possibility.
Our mission is to create opportunities that inspire and connect diverse national and international innovative, world-class, artists-musicians through collaborative concerts, festivals, workshops and educational programs.
Singer, composer, arranger, and producer Grazyna Auguscik has won the praise and admiration of music critics, jazz enthusiasts and even non-jazz audiences with a singular voice that speaks a universal language.
She is one of the most intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s World jazz scene.
Singer, composer, arranger, and producer Grazyna Auguscik has won the praise and admiration of music critics, jazz enthusiasts and even non-jazz audiences with a singular voice that speaks a universal language.
She is one of the most intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s World jazz scene.
Her elusive style challenges traditional definitions of jazz and show vocalist and musician without boundaries. Her unorthodox approach to rewriting classic works is at once a tribute to its authors as well as an adventure into uncharted territory. Her originals give a fresh taste of uncanny flavor.
Her professional music career She began in Europe, completed her studies in 1992 at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has since become a prolific collaborator shearing the stage with such jazz notables as Jim Hall, Michael and Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Jim Hall, Urszula Dudziak, John Medeski, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Michal Urbaniak, Matt Ulery, Jaroslaw Bester, Andrzej Jagodzinski and many others.
Since 1994, Grazyna has made Chicago her home where she performs at the legendary Green Mill, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Millennium Park, to named just few.
Amidst her active schedule of Worldwide performances, Grazyna has managed to record, produce and distribute 23 albums, 13 under her own record label, GMA Records, and appearing on as many projects as a guest.
In 2011, she received the Outstanding Pole Aboard award from the Teraz Polska foundation, and the annual award of the Polish Ministry of Culture.
In 2017, she received Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis awarded by
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
In 2018, she received award from National Polish TV Polonia “Artist without boarders”
In 2016, she established “Sound and Notes” non-profit foundation, and she is a founder of “Chopin IN the City” arts festival in Chicago.
Photo by Krystyna Andryszkiewicz
Our signature festival
Chopin. Reimagined.
Classical music, jazz, folk, dance, theater and visual art. A shared legacy, heard in new ways.
Live performance · Dom Kultury Stare BabiceSzeptem · Grażyna Auguścik & Andrzej Jagodziński Trio
Chopin by Grażyna Auguścik — Millennium Park
Chicago · July 25, 2010
Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 · Millennium Park 2010Mazurka in G minor, Op. 24 No. 1 · Millennium Park 2010Prelude in B minor, Op. 28 No. 6 · Millennium Park 2010Nocturne in E minor · Millennium Park 2010Mazurkas in B-flat major & A minor, Op. 7 Nos. 1–2 · Millennium Park 2010Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 · Millennium Park 2010Mazurka in F major, Op. 68 No. 3 · Millennium Park 2010Sonata in G minor, Op. 65 — 3rd movement · Millennium Park 2010Étude in B minor, Op. 25 No. 10 · Millennium Park 2010
Chopin by Grażyna Auguścik — Ostrów Wielkopolski
Poland · 2010
Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20 · Ostrów Wielkopolski 2010Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 · Ostrów Wielkopolski 2010
Grazyna Auguscik
