Master & Student – Children and Youth Arts Event

The Kosciuszko Foundation invites you to the Master & Student—Children and Youth Arts Event, featuring a piano recital by Philip Kwoka, music performances by young artists, an art exhibit of Agnieszka Zabawa paintings, and a mini art exhibit of artworks by Maya Kruziewicz. The reception will follow the program.

Philip Kwoka, a native New Yorker, made his major debut at the age of 13 when he was selected to perform on NPR’s “From the Top.” Shortly after, he made his solo orchestral debut with the Warminsko-Mazurskie Filharmonia in Olsztyn, Poland. Philip has been a prize winner in many competitions, most recently a laureate in the 2018 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition.

Philip graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M.), where, upon graduating was awarded the Sadie Zellen Prize for outstanding musical development. Philip continued his studies at the Mannes School of Music (M.M.), and shortly after graduating his musical journey took a new course. With a special interest in music education, at just 24 years of age, Philip was hired as the Executive Director of the Bronx Conservatory of Music, where he led the organization for 5 years. At the time, he was one of the youngest executive leaders to hold such a position in New York.

In 2021, Philip founded the Bronx School for Music, a new nonprofit music school in the Bronx that focuses on making music education accessible to the borough’s young children. The organization now has over 250 students attending lessons weekly.

Philip has studied with Svetlana Gorokhovich, Roberta Rust, Philip Evans, Daniel Shapiro, Paul Schenly, and Konstantin Soukhovetski.

Teresa Rysztof studied painting at the Academy of Arts in Poznan, Poland, under the supervision of Professor Norbert Skupniewicz, who greatly influenced her artistic creativity. Since 1993, she has lived and worked in the United States. She uses her own technique to express herself on paper using distempers. She presented her artwork at many individual and group exhibitions in the USA, Poland, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Slovenia. The major ones included Prima Soho, Le Bar Bat, International Independent Film and Arts Festival, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, Kosciuszko Foundation (New York), Polish-American Museum in Chicago, and Galeria Kultuforeningen in Stockholm. She received many awards. The major awards: third place winner at the New York International Independence Film and Art. Festival (1998), first place for photography in the magazine” In Focus”(1999), first place winner for painting the Spring Art. Festival(2002,2006) and second(2010). Her paintings and graphics are in private collections all over Europe and USA. She is also an illustrator. Her drawings can be seen in Polish newspapers in Poland and USA.

Since 1998, she has been a director of the Children’s Arts Club and an art manager for the Polish Cultural Festival in NY. She was the art director for the Children Smile Foundation ((2005-2008). Since 2006 she has been a representative director for Fundacja Mlodej Poloni in the USA and an art director of the program Master&Student held at the Kosciuszko Foundation.