Magdalena Wór, mezzo-soprano & Martin Labazevitch, piano – A Concert to Commemorate the 125th Birthday Anniversary of Polish Composer Feliks Rybicki

We are delighted to host a sentimental event dedicated to the music and memory of Feliks Rybicki, Polish composer, conductor, and beloved music educator.

An acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Magdalena Wór, will perform selected songs by Feliks Rybicki,  while an exquisite pianist, Martin Labazevitch, will play a volume of works by the composer.

Feliks Bronisław Tymoteusz Rybicki was born January 24, 1899, in Warsaw, Poland. He composed more than 50 works for orchestra, choir, and piano, as well as chamber music and vocal instrumental works. Among them are the most popular pedagogical works for piano: Pierwsze Kroki (First Steps) op. 19, Już Gram (I Can Play) op. 24, Gram Wszystko (I Play Everything) op. 22, Mały Modernista (Little Modernist) op. 23, and Koncert dla Małych Rąk (Concerto for Little Hands) op. 53 for piano and orchestra. Composed with children and youth in mind, they helped generations of students learn to play the piano, and sparked love towards music.

Feliks Rybicki also composed music for movies, including a soundtrack for Profesor Wilczur (Professor Wilczur), 1938, and Dziesięciu z Pawiaka (The Ten from the Pawiak), 1931.

Feliks Rybicki graduated from the Wojciech Górski Gymnasium in Warsaw. Between 1919 and 1925, he studied composition with Roman Statkowski and then with Witold Maliszewski. He also studied conducting with Emil Młynarski and Henryk Melcer at the Conservatory of Music in Warsaw. In 1924 he married Helena née Penther (1903-1976).

He made his debut as a conductor with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in 1926, and, from 1937-1939, he was a principal conductor of its Oratory Choir. Before and after World War II, he was very active as a composer and conductor at the Polish Public Radio. Between 1951 and 1953, he was a professor at the State Academy of Music in Sopot.

Until his retirement, he directed the Orchestra and Choir of the State Music Lyceum in Warsaw. Feliks Rybicki died on August 24, 1978, in Warsaw. He is buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland.

Polish-born mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór is a winner, finalist, and recipient of many prestigious national and international competitions and awards, such as the Marcello Giordani and Moniuszko International Vocal Competitions, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and Marcella Kochanska Sembrich Vocal Competition, among others.

Over the last several seasons Ms. Wór has worked with The Metropolitan Opera, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic in Washington, DC, the Washington National Opera, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baltic Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Atlanta Opera, Virginia Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and Alabama Symphony Orchestra, among others. Her opera roles include those of Carmen, Suzuki, Cherubino, Maddalena, Tisbe, Enrichetta, Orfeo, and Rosina, among others. Magdalena’s orchestral works include Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach’s Magnificat, Beach’s Mass in Eb Major, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, and Bach’s Johannes-Passion. Equally comfortable in Opera, Symphony, and Chamber works, Ms. Wór is often praised by music critics and fans alike for the rich color of her voice, vocal flexibility- which allows her to sing low and high mezzo repertoire, from Baroque through the 21st century- and her complete devotion to both the music and the text at hand.

 

 

Praised by critics in Europe and the United States for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch

appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Peru and the United States.
Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C. He has been a soloist with leading orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States. Of his debut album release of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, ConcertoNet wrote, “…he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin’s conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein.” After his debut at Carnagie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, The Strad Magazine wrote: “ … exuberant, multi-faceted, …gripping from first note to last.”
An enthusiastic educator, Mr Labazevitch has been sharing his passion for teaching with students at the Levine School of Music in Washington D.C. He is also the Co-Founder of the Puerto Rico International Piano Festival, in San Juan as well as the Artistic Director of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition and Chopin Piano Academy in Washington D.C. In 2022 Mr Labazevitch co-founded The Paderewski Academy, a pioneer hybrid piano academy based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Mr Labazevitch is a Steinway Artist.

Please join us on May 18, at 5:00 pm at the KFDC to enjoy the music of Feliks Rybicki. The composer’s daughter, Barbara Kalabinska, and granddaughter, Marta Kalabinski will share their remarks.

Light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

Tickets: Individual: $25; KF Members $15

Space is limited, please RSVP HERE