Ballet by John Neumeier | Epilogue
Soprano
Marie Smolka
Soprano
Soprano Marie Smolka was born in Ostrava. Since the 2023/24 season, Marie Smolka has been a member of the ensemble at the Tyrolean Landestheater in Innsbruck, where she has performed the roles of the Countess in Mozart´s"Le nozze di Figaro", Mimí in"La Bohéme", and Simplicius in"Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend". Her portrayal of Simplicius received high praise in the magazine Opernwelt, which described her as "an exceptional performer.“ In the 2024/25 season, she will have two more role debuts in Innsbruck, including Tatyana in"Eugene Onegin" and Frau in Schoenberg's"Von heute auf morgen". In January 2025, she will make her debut at the Hamburg State Opera in"Epilog" and can be heard in Mozart's Requiem in Karlovy Vary and Prague.
Marie Smolka regularly collaborates with conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Cornelius Meister, Antonello Manacorda, Joanna Mallwitz, and Yoel Gamzou. She has worked with directors such as Marina Abramović, Robert Carsen, Tobias Kratzer, Eva Maria Höckmayr, Tatjana Gürbaca, and Lydia Steier.
During the 2022/23 season, she made her debut as Traviata in Marina Abramović's"7 Deaths of Maria Callas" at the Royal Theater in Amsterdam, in cooperation with the Bavarian State Opera Munich. From 2021 to 2023, Marie Smolka was a member of the ensemble in Bremen, where she performed as Pamina, Angel (“Angels in America"), and Poppea (“L'incoronazione di Poppea"). Furthermore, she has performed at prestigious venues, including the Berlin State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Baden-Baden, Hanover State Opera, Grand Théâtre de Sarrebourg, Teatro Massimo Palermo, and Saarländisches Staatstheater.
More about Marie Smolka
Piano
Michal Bialk
Pianist
Michal Bialk was born in 1982 in Krakow. Intensive collaboration with Elza Kolodin, Matthias Kirschnereit, Jan Wijn and Oleg Maisenberg, as well as master courses with Jacques Rouvier (Perrigueux), Vera Gornostaeva (Paris), Piotr Anderszewski (Linz) and Krystian Zimerman (Basel) provide a core theme in his artistic development. Since his debut with the Krakow Philharmonic he has regularly given concerts in nearly all the countries of Europe, North Africa and Asia, including performances at, among others, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Festivals, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Festival International de Colmar of Vladimir Spivakov. Furthermore, he is a permanent guest soloist of numerous orchestras in France, Italy, Germany and Turkey. A special place among his concert activities is his collaboration with John Neumeier of the Hamburg Ballett since 2006.
Michal Bialk is a first place recipient at international piano competitions in Poland, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey. He has on several occasions been distinguished for the best interpretation of Polish and Spanish music. Additionally he has received the "Prix d'Espoir" from the Pro Europa Foundation and the European Advancement Award for Young Artists at the cultural award presentation ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Piano
Piotr Machnik
Pianist
Piotr Machnik graduated with distinction from the piano class of Professor Stefan Wojtas at the Krakow Academy of Music in 1999. Subsequently he perfected his skills under Eugene Indijc in Paris. He also received artistic guidance from Rudolf Buchbinder and Krystian Zimerman.
He has received scholarships from the French Government and from the President of the city of Krakow. He was also awarded scholarships on two occasions by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and twice by the Frederic Chopin Institute in Warsaw.
He has won many prizes at national and international piano competitions, including the Chopin competitions in Marianske Lazne (the Czech Republic, 1999; 2nd prize) and in Ankara (Turkey, 1999; 2nd prize). However the most important success for him was winning the grand prix, gold medal and the special prize in the prestigious Maria Canals piano competition in Barcelona (2004). The following year he won the 1st prize and the special prize at the 32nd "Palma d'Oro" piano competition in Finale Ligure (Italy).
Piotr has performed both in Poland and abroad. He has given numerous concerts in Germany, Japan, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Italy, Kuwait, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. He has performed piano concertos with orchestras such as Capella Cracoviensis, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Kyoto City Philharmony Symphonic Orchestra, The North Bohemia Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfonica del Valles and Süd- West Rundfunk Orchester Stuttgart. Recently his experience and expertise has led him to being invited to join the jury at international piano competitions.
He has released three CD's to date, one with the music of Frederic Chopin, recorded on a Pleyel piano built in 1847 which have been played by Chopin himself (at present this instrument is situated in the museum of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow). The other CD, "SonARTe", contains sonatas by Brahms, Haydn and Prokofiev. The most recent one consists of three cycles by Claude Debussy.
From 1999-2008 Piotr Machnik worked as an assistant to professor Ewa Bukojemska in the piano department at the Krakow Academy of Music, but since completing his PhD in 2008 has been running his own piano class there.
