Between Folk Magic and Sonorism — The KFDC Next-Gen Event

As part of the Washington, DC Next-Gen event series, you are warmly invited to an evening of Polish music spanning a century of musical experimentation, tradition, ritual, and sound.

1926–2026: Between Folk Magic and Sonorism

This program brings together Polish music from two moments a century apart: the experimental musical landscape of the 1920s and its contemporary counterpart. The evening features three works for string quartet by composers Karol Szymanowski, Ludomir Różycki, and Aleksander Tansman, whose music reflects a period of searching for new musical languages while looking toward folk traditions, ritual, and the distinctive sounds of their cultural landscape.

Turning to the 2020s, works by composer and cellist Aleksandra Woźniak—Dimensions of Dialogue, gli altri, Olbios, and ecce—turn the familiar string quartet into a laboratory for exploring timbre, gesture, and the contemplative dimensions of sound. Memory and ritual reappear in transformed forms, alongside a shared fascination across both periods with sound itself as musical material.

Forming a dialogue across a century of Polish musical experimentation, the program asks what remains and what can be rediscovered when composers separated by a hundred years approach questions of tradition, identity, and sound from entirely different worlds.

The event is co-sponsored by the Sylvan and Eugenia Bobinski Fund.

November 14, 2026 | 5:00 PM
Wine & Light refreshments will be served.
KF Members: $15/Non-members: $25
Purchase tickets HERE

Everyone is welcome, especially anyone interested in the KF Next-Gen Association— a new initiative dedicated to fostering the next generation of KF members and leaders. We look forward to welcoming you for an opportunity to connect with fellow young professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Learn more about upcoming Foundation programs and events: https://thekf.org/event/

PERFORMERS

Elizabeth Stein, violin

Violinist Elizabeth Stein is an active performer, leader, and collaborator who seeks to connect with others through music. She studies with Herbert Greenberg while pursuing her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She has also studied with and performed for distinguished violinists including Emil Chudnovsky, David Kim, Jaram Kim, Robert McDuffie, Ronald Patterson, and Milan Vitek.

After winning the Bremerton Symphony Concerto Competition, Elizabeth made her solo debut with the Bremerton Symphony Orchestra under Alan Futterman. She has received numerous awards, including second place in the Marbury Undergraduate Violin Competition, first place in the James Bland Music Scholarship Competition, and second place in the AAMS International Music Competition.

Elizabeth serves as a leader in the Peabody Concert Orchestra through its String Leadership Program and, since 2025, as Co-Director of the Peabody String Sinfonia, a conductorless ensemble that brings live music to Baltimore communities with limited access to performances. She has also performed with the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Elizabeth enjoys bringing music beyond the traditional concert hall, performing at weddings, parties, porch concerts, and nursing homes. She recently helped form the Pothos String Quartet with fellow Peabody musicians.

Outside of music, Elizabeth is passionate about theology and studying the Bible. She also enjoys baking and crocheting.

Wyatt Johnson, viola

Wyatt Johnson is a violist currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studies under the esteemed violist and pedagogue Victoria Chiang. Originally from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Wyatt began his musical journey in sixth grade and quickly developed a passion for orchestral and chamber music. Wyatt has performed as a section violist with professional ensembles including the Long Bay Symphony, Florence Symphony Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

His summer studies have taken him to respected programs such as Interlochen Arts Camp, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. Outside of music, Wyatt enjoys spending time with friends, exploring new interests, and relaxing with his cat, Rigby.

Aleksandra (Ola) Woźniak, composer & cellist

Aleksandra (Ola) Woźniak (b. 2005) is a composer and cellist whose musical language is shaped through language, ritual, and the anthropomorphism of sound. She is currently studying composition at the Peabody Conservatory, where she works with Du Yun, Felipe Lara, and Oscar Bettison and studies cello with Pei Lu. Alongside her musical training, she is pursuing a degree in art history at Johns Hopkins University.

Her artistic and scholarly interests center on both the historical and contemporary forms of religious practice and their relationships with language, culture, ritual, and acoustic space. In her recent works, she explores new ways of reinterpreting historical texts and liturgical structures through the aid of gradual transformation and imitation. Woźniak has collaborated with ensembles and across the globe, most recently working with the Peabody Conductors’ Orchestra, Milan’s Divertimento Ensemble, and Slovenia’s .abeceda Contemporary Ensemble.

Alongside her compositional practice, Woźniak conducts research on liturgical music and takes part in various collaborations, with the most recent involving a committed study of Jan Kochanowski’s Epigrams. She is also an archivist intern at the Baltimore Museum of Art, which allows her to further engage in her interdisciplinary practice.

During the twenty-fifth hour of the day, Ola paints, makes collages and paper cutouts, and likes
to catch her breath from time to time.

Isabel Rushall, violin

Isabel Rushall is a Baltimore-based violinist, arts administrator, and senior at the Peabody Institute studying violin performance with Herbert Greenberg. Originally from Flagstaff, AZ, she began studying the violin under the Suzuki method at age five and falls deeper in love with music each year. Her Portuguese roots have allowed her to witness firsthand music’s ability to surpass language and cultural barriers.

She believes music is the ultimate medium of human connection and strives for fluency in the musical tongue. In combination with community
outreach and orchestral playing, she is also a frequent performer of new music, a process which allows her to expand her artistic and collaborative palettes. She intends to spend her life refining her ability to connect with and learn about the world around her through music.

Join us for an evening of music, memory, ritual, and discovery.

Kosciuszko Foundation
November 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM