Celebrating International Children’s Day with Young Musical Talents

The program will feature:

Sujit Hegde

• Chopin – Nocturne Op.32 No.1
• Debussy – From Preludes Book I “Interrupted Serenade”

Anastasia Fitenko

• Copland – The Cat and the Mouse
• Chopin – Nocturne Op.72 No.1

Evelina Kleczek

• Chopin – Scherzo No.4 Op.54
• Debussy – The Joyful Island

Matthew Chang

• Ligeti – Etude No.4 “Fanfares”
• Chopin – Nocturne Op.62 No.2
• Prokofiev – Sonata No.7 Op.83 – Precipitato

Antoni Kleczek

• Prokofiev – Sonata No.6 Op.82 – Vivace

Anastasia Fitenko is a seventh grader in the Magnet Humanities Program at the Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, MD. She has been playing the piano since the age of 5, and she is currently a student of Dr. Labazevitch at the Levine School of Music. Anastasia received the first prizes at the 2023 Ruth P. Cogen Concerto Competition and the 2023 Marlin Engel Solo Competition at the Levine School of Music; the first place at the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Maryland State Spring Piano Solo Festival, the first place at the 2019 Miriam Gottlieb Piano Competition, the first place at the 2019 and 2021 Viola Hartman Piano Performance Awards, the first place at the 2021 Piano Forum Online Competition, and the first place at the 2019 Gertrude S. Brown Piano Concerto Competition. She has also earned the First-Class Honors with Distinction in the RCM Certificate Program. In 2019 Anastasia appeared as soloist with the New England Youth Ensemble of Washington Adventist University, performing Haydn’s Concertino in C major. The same year, she also performed at the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall at the RCM’s Northeast Region Celebration of Excellence Recital.

Evelina Kleczek – The New York Concert Review described her playing as one of “remarkable maturity, poise, and control. She let the music speak for itself simply and directly without overthinking- a refreshing performance.” Evelina has performed in such venues as the Chopin Center in Szafarnia, Gusman Hall in Frost School of Music, the Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington D.C., Cary Hall in the DiMena Center for Classical Music in New York, and the Sala Junior Soto in the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. In 2020, Evelina was awarded first prize and the Szymanowski award at the 2020 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Washington D.C. In 2022, Evelina participated in the 7th Tureck International Bach Competition and won the Rosalyn Tureck prizes in the contemporary and Prelude and Fugue categories. Evelina attended the 2022 Frost Chopin Festival, where she had the rare opportunity to have open lessons with Garrick Ohlsson, Ewa Pobłocka, and Kevin Kenner. Evelina has also participated in three editions of the Puerto Piano Festival where she studied with pedagogues such as Micheal Lewin, Golda Vainberg-Tatz, Krzysztof Jablonski, and Jeffrey Swann.
Evelina Kleczek was born in 2009 in Virginia, and she studies in Washington D.C. with Dr. Martin Labazevitch.

Matthew Chang – fourteen years old, currently studies with Dr. Martin Labazevitch, Krzysztof Jablonski, and Ingolf Wunder. Matthew has received numerous accolades during his career and competition wins including the Chopin Competition in Hartford, CT., the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition, the William Knabe International Piano Competition, the Great Washington Steinway Piano Competition, the International Young Artist Piano Competition, the Henle Competition, the Chicago International competition, the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, the Kirov International Junior E-Piano Competition, and more. Matthew was one of the 7 national finalists in the MTNA Junior Performance Competition in 2022-2023. He made his European debut at the Metallener Saal Musikverein in Austria and the Colegiata de San Juan Bautista in Spain. Matthew had his first livestream solo recital when he was eleven years old, and a second one at the Polish ambassador’s residence at twelve years old during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Last year (13 years old), he had a live performance at the Czech Republic Embassy and also had been invited to perform two concerts in Seoul, Korea. In the same year, Matthew performed with the Sinfonia da Camera orchestra with maestro Ian Hobson and appeared on NPR’s From the Top. The NY Concert Review: “He projected the life of each distinct phrase with a joyful and intense involvement. His rhythm was not merely solid, but also full of dance-like energy.”

Antoni Kleczek – has been described by the Chairman of the International Chopin Competition, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń as a pianist who plays each piece with “deep understanding…natural expression, communicativeness of emotions and all this while playing with apparent ease.” Antoni has performed in such concert venues as Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Gusman Hall in the Frost School of Music, Sala Anthony Junior Soto in the Conservatoire of Music in Puerto Rico, the Kosciuszko Foundations in DC and New York, and the Chopin Center in Szafarnia, Poland. In 2022, Antoni was awarded the Grand Prix in the 29th edition of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Szafarnia. Antoni is the winner of the 1st prize at the 6th Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition in 2019 where he he also received the Rosalyn Tureck prize for contemporary works as well as the Olga Kern Aspiration Award. Antoni has participated in the 2022 Frost Chopin Academy where he had the privilege of working with acclaimed pianists and pedagogues such as Garrick Ohlsson, Kevin Kenner, and Ewa Pobłocka. Antoni also attended several editions of the Puerto Piano Music Festival in which he was taught by Jeffry Swan, Kirill Gerstein, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Piotr Paleczny, and others. Antoni was born in 2006 and is currently studying privately with Dr. Martin Labazevitch in Washington D.C.