Karolina & Iwo
Wednesday, March 18th at 7pm • Emeryville
Join us at The Red Door in Emeryville for a very special evening as the vibrant violin and accordion duo Karolina and Iwo take us on a musical journey through a wide range of sounds and styles—from traditional Polish folk-inspired tunes, to classical masterworks re-envisioned for their unique instrumentation, to contemporary works full of imagination and virtuosity.
Karolina Mikołajczyk
Karolina Mikołajczyk has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Guangzhou Opera House, Den Norske Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and The National Grand Theatre and National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw.
In 2022 she was nominated for the prestigious Fryderyk Award (Polish equivalent of the Grammy), and has premiered many pieces that have been written and dedicated to her. She has also worked extensively with renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki, receiving an official approval to perform the composer’s violin-accordion arrangement of his Sonata for violin and piano no. 1.
Karolina is also an innovative concert programmer and an advocate for underrepresented societies, with one of her most recent projects promoting the works of Polish-Jewish composers neglected and forgotten after WWII.
Karolina S. Mikołajczyk plays R. Duke Londini 1766 violin.
Iwo Jedynecki
A versatile and experienced performer once described as the “Glenn Gould of the Accordion,” Iwo Jedynecki is changing perspectives for the classical accordion with his unique approach to concert programming and presentation. Winner of top prizes at over 30 national and international music competitions, he has performed as a soloist in 25 countries across four continents.
Mr. Jedynecki can often be found performing alongside duo partner and violinist Karolina Mikołajczyk, most notably at Carnegie Hall, The Guangzhou Opera House, and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. In 2022, Mr. Jedynecki received his doctoral degree with a dissertation about 19th-century music for harmonium.
He is a winner of the 2022 Astral Artists National Competition and received a Fulbright scholarship to become the first classical accordionist in the history of New York University.