BachHaendel “Italian cantatas & french suites” is the first project of Iwona Włodarczyk presenting rarely performed Italian cantatas G.F.Haendla.
Premiere performances of rarely played Italian Cantatas by G. F. Handel with a harpsichord accompaniment were enthusiastically received by the audiences during the first tour of Poland in 2011. With her interpretation and a rare contralto voice, the artist delighted the audience gathered in the most beautiful castles of Lesser Poland and Podkarpackie.
During that tour the artist was accompanied by the excellent harpsichordist Joanna Solecka, who dignified the concerts with a solo performance of French Suites by J. S. Bach.
The Cantatas HWV 125b ‘Lungi da me, penser tiranno’, HWV 109a ‘Dolc’e pur d’amor l’affanno’ and HWV 120b ‘Irene, idolo mio’ have become regular repertoire pieces performed by Iwona Włodarczyk, invariably enjoying great popularity.
CONCERT PROGRAM
G.F. Haendel Kantata HWV 125b “Lungi da me, pensier tiranno”;
J.S.Bach II Suita francuska c-moll BWV 813;
G.F. Haendel Kantata HWV 109a “Dolc’e pur d’amor l’affanno”;
J.S.Bach IV Suita francuska Es-dur BWV 815;
G.F.Haendel Kantata HWV 120b “Irene, idolo mio”
Iwona Włodarczyk
Polish contralto, belongs to the group of the most interesting performers of Baroque music. Born in Krakow; here, she started her music education at the Mieczysław Karłowicz School of Music, at the Instrumental Department – violin, as well as the Vocal and Acting Department. She continued her vocal education at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. Additionally, she attended numerous vocal courses conducted by such Bel Canto masters as Fedora Barbieri, Fiorenza Cossotto, Kaludi Kaludov and Maestra Ewa Podleś.
Thanks to the unique, deep and outstandingly noble timbre of her voice, Iwona Włodarczyk has been a successful performer of the Messiah Oratorio by G. F. Handel, Magnificat by J. S. Bach and Stabat Mater by A. Vivaldi. The audiences appreciate her energetic character and her ability to establish close relationships during concerts. It is the contact with the audience that the artist finds most gratifying to her. For this reason, she has recently turned her attention to small musical forms which provide the opportunity to establish a unique relationship with the listeners. This was how the enthusiastically received programme BachHandel Italian Cantatas & French Suites was conceived. It is made up of Italian cantatas by G. F. Handel for alto voice and suites by J. S. Bach for harpsichord.
Joanna Solecka
Pianist, harpsichordist, music theorist. She completed her studies at the Academy of Music in Cracow, and completed her education at many interpretation courses in the field of piano and harpsichord repertoire. She gives concerts in Poland and abroad, performing chamber music and solo pieces. Over the years she has cooperated with the chamber orchestra Capella Cracoviensis and the Cracow Opera. She performs, among others, with the Intrada early music ensemble, the court ballet Cracovia Danza and the ClaveDuo harpsichord duo.
She develops her interest in the theory of music by participating in popular science lectures and as the author of the slogans for the Music Encyclopedia of the Polish Music Publishing House. For Radio RMF Classic she has recorded a series of broadcasts about the piano as part of the „Co jest grane” series. In cooperation with M. Kraft, she made the first full translation of treatise C into Polish. Ph. E. Bach’s “Versuch über die Wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen” (On the real art of playing keyboard instruments, Astraia, Cracow, 2017). She conducts didactic activity in the field of instrumentalism and music theory in Cracow music schools.