Maria Silva
Maria Skurjat-Silva began her musical education at the age of five, and by fifteen she had won a prestigious competition for talented young musicians. She graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where she studied piano with Barbara Hesse-Bukowska and Andrzej Ratusiński. She won many prizes in National Chopin competitions. While continuing her concert career as a soloist and a chamber orchestra musician she also started teaching at the Music University in Warsaw. She has toured several times in the United States, performing at the Cleveland Severance Hall and in New York, Chicago, New Jersey, as well as Toronto and Montreal, Canada. She has also given concerts in China, South America and Europe.
In 1990 Maria Silva began her cooperation with Siggy Jackson - Colortone Record Company in London. She subsequently received an award at the Cannes Music Festival in 1994 for their recording of “Farewell my love”, with music by English composer David Brown, and in 1995 for their another recording “Spiritual dimensions”.
The press said at the time: “Maria Skurjat-Silva is one of the few Polish piano soloists whose performance lifts the hearts of an audience with her excellent playing so full of artistic interpretation and depth of feeling. This artist enchants her listeners”.
In the year 2000 she released her rendition of Chopin’s music combined with lyrics from St. Faustine’s Diary called “Descended from Heaven for You”. The recording was dedicated to Pope John Paul II, and Maria had the privilege of personally handing him a copy as a gift. Her latest recording “Fascinated with Chopin” features Chopin’s music which she often plays at Chopin’s family mansion in Żelazowa Wola and Royal Lazienki in Warsaw. She frequently appears as a guest artist at the Music Festival in Warsaw and Vilnius, where she performs her interpretation of the works of Polish composers.
In September 2013, she performed music of romantic composers and the British composer David Brown in Derby UK, for the Derby Hippodrome Restoration Trust.
She also plays solo recitals drawn from her rich repertoire, with piano masterpieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, romantic masters, impressionists and contemporary composers, as well as piano concerts with Josef Elsner’s Orchestra in Warsaw - the orchestra that she regurarly works with. Maria Silva is also involved in the children’s education program performing in Poland as well as in Hungary and Lithuania, where she has presented series of the ‘Polish flowers’ concerts.
She performs chamber music and cooperates with outstanding Polish artists, singers and instrumentalists.
Her interpretations, particularly those of Chopin’s works, always enjoy vigorous applause from audiences and the highest praise from music critics.
Program
Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849)
Prelude D flat major Op. 28 No. 15 “Raindrop”
Valse C sharp minor Op. 64 No. 2
Nocturne C sharp minor Op. posth.
Etude E major Op. 10 No. 3
Grande Valse Brillante A flat major Op. 34 No. 1
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2 Mazurkas: A minor Op. 67 No. 4
B minor Op. 33 No. 4
Andante Spianato and
Grande Polonaise Brillante E flat major Op. 22
