Praised for her “warm lyricism and flawless technique” by Le soir (Belgium) and for her “gripping performance of the music of Grazyna Bacewicz” by Washington Post, Polish-American violinist, Marta Szlubowska, is a sought-after soloist, chamber musician, teacher and a concertmaster. Her concerts have taken her to over 15 countries throughout Europe and Americas. Since 2005 she has been the Concertmaster and a Soloist with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra in Jackson, MS. A native of Warsaw, Poland, Ms. Szlubowska gave her first public performance at the age of seven at the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. At thirteen, she was chosen to represent Poland on a tour to Great Britain, performing as a soloist with the Szymanowski Liceum Orchestra. In 1983 Ms. Szlubowska came to the United States to study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a winner of the Joseph Maddy Scholarship, where she received Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance and an Artist's Diploma (prestigious performance degree). She continued with a second graduate degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, earning her Master's of Music in Violin Performance as a teaching assistant of the world-renowned concert violinist, Charles Treger. Ms. Szlubowska's other distinguished teachers included Janusz Szok, Charles Libove and Berl Senofsky. Ms. Szlubowska has been awarded many prizes including the 1st Prize in the Yale Gordon and the Marbury International Concerto Competitions in Baltimore, MD. She has won the 2nd Prize at the Bryan International String Competition in North Carolina, as well as the Honorable Mentions at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland, Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium and the Sibelius International Violin Competition in Finland. In the U.S. Ms. Szlubowska has appeared as a soloist with the Mississippi Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Germantown Symphony, Olympia Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Beyond the South Chamber Orchestra, Santiago de Chile Chamber Orchestra, Szymanowski Symphony and many others. In 2020/21 season she will be a featured soloist with the Mississippi Symphony and the Meridian Symphony. Ms. Szlubowska has given numerous performances at the Tanglewood, Interlochen and Meadowmount Music Festivals as well as the Colorado Music Festival and the Vermont Mozart Festival. She has served on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival, Marrowstone Music Festival, Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, and Utah Music Festival. She has performed under the baton of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood, and Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. She has appeared at the prestigious Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and the Community Concerts, Inc. in California. A sought-after collaborator, Ms. Szlubowska has performed with such distinguished artists as Judith Glyde, Kevin Kenner, Julius Baker, Gerhardt Zimmerman, Harvey Felder, Alex Klein, and many others. She has performed in masterclasses for such world-renowned violinists as Ruggiero Ricci, Henryk Szeryng, Martin Chalifour, Burton Kaplan, Aaron Rosand and many others. Between 1992 and 1999 Ms. Szlubowska held the position of Assistant Professor of Violin at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where in addition to teaching she was the 1st Violinist of the Regency String Quartet. Between 1998-2004 Ms. Szlubowska held the position of Concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony and later the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra and was invited to perform numerous concerts with Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of such renowned conductors as Edo de Waart and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. In June of 2009, Ms. Szlubowska toured Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic performing as a soloist and as part of the Duo Vivace (two violins) with her daughter, Julia Kirk. Since 2009 Ms. Szlubowska has performed and given many masterclasses in Columbia, Peru, and Chile. In the summer of 2019 Ms. Szlubowska performed as a soloist and collaborator with the Mississippi Chorus on a tour of Ireland. Ms. Szlubowska’s passion for solo and chamber music has led her to be one of the founding members of the many uniques ensembles such as Trio Appassionato (2005-2010), the Ensemble Polonaise, all-in-one-family quartet (2007-2015), Tango Rendezvous Ensemble dedicated to performing the music of the Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla, and the Mississippi Fine Arts String Trio. Ms. Szlubowska is also a Founder and Soloist of a highly acclaimed Marta Szlubowska Ensemble featuring music from around the world for strings and accordion. The ensemble has performed at St. Paul Concert Series in Meridian, Arts and Lecture Series at Millsaps College, Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music Series, Old Capitol Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, Mississippi Chambre Music Guild and many others. Ms. Szlubowska is a Mississippi Arts Commission Roster Artist and has been awarded several grants from MAC including the 2019/20 prestigious Artist Fellowship. This generous grant has enabled Ms. Szlubowska to promote the world-class music of Polish woman composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) through a series of concerts. Ms. Szlubowska and Dr. Svetlana Belsky (from Szlubowska-Belsky Duo) have recently released an Award-Winning CD entitled Myth and Romance, music for violin and piano by Polish composers. You will be able to purchase this and other CDs of the artists at tonight’s concert. We are glad you came to support live music and we really hope you will enjoy our concert! You can find more information about Ms.Szlubowska’s concert activities as well as her recordings at: www.martaszlubowska.com