Jozef Kapustka

Jozef Kapustka is a Polish concert pianist, born in 1969 in Tarnów, Poland. Lives in Paris, France.

Biography and schooling

Jozef Kapustka was born in 1969 in Tarnów, Poland where he began receiving his precociously early musical tuition from the local instructor Danuta Cieslik at the age of 3. He then briefly studied at the State Higher Academy of Music in Kraków with Ewa Bukojemska, but it was not until he moved to the West that he accomplished a fairly unique scholarly pedigree. Having graduated with a straight A record from The Juilliard School in New York ( "Bachelor's of Music" degree 1992) where he studied piano with Josef Raieff, whose teaching descended directly from this of Franz Liszt; then Jerome Lowenthal and chamber music with Joseph Fuchs, he moved on to be granted a "Postgraduate Advanced Studies Diploma" specializing in piano performance from The Royal Academy of Music in London (1997, piano with Martin Roscoe and musicology with Amanda Glauert). He furthered his skills during masterclasses with Dimitri Bashkirov (held under auspices of La Reina Sofia School of Music in Spain) and Vera Gornostaeva in Paris and Moscow. Also an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara,CA he holds a " diplome superieur de la langue et civilization francaise" from Paris Sorbonne University(1994).One of the very few recipients of Grand Prix of Conservatoire International de Musique de Paris (1992), an institution founded and run originally by Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Faure.

Performances

Although never entered any major competition Jozef Kapustka is an internationally active concert pianist ( he has performed in nearly every European country including Russia; U.S.A -numerous Lincoln Center appearances 1989-1992, Juilliard IBM concert series, Kosciuszko Foundation-Hunter College Music series broadcasted live on WQXR New York classical radio, Carnegie Recital Hall 1998, United Nations on invitation from Russian Permanent Mission 2004; South and Central America,Middle and Far East,Africa);also chamber player, coach and adviser to various productions(Avinion Festival 2004,France); respected accompanyist he worked with violinists David Galoustov, Fiodor Rudin,Gilles Rabinovitch,Jean Claude Tartour, pianists Tamami Honma, Vera Nakariakova, Colette Lanssens,Oleg Kirsanov,Sandrine Casha,Joanna Chao, singers Mzia Nioradze,Svetlana Lifar, Irina Titaeva Tiviane, Vera Egorova, Sergei Stilmachenko,Brigitte Antonelli and Mikhail Petrenko among others.

Never tired of reaching new public he travels to the most remote corners of the planet, having appeared so far in such places as Polynesian atolls, Spitsbergen, antique Roman theaters in North Africa, Rio de Janeiro favelas, etc.

Bibliography

Written press accounts:

Nurnberger Zeitung, 02.03.1989 B.Breithaupt "Vier Krakauer Temperamente"; The New Yorker 18.11.1991, p.22; also: Village Voice, November 1991 "TDK Serious Radio. Selective Guide to the most interesting radio programming on the air"; The New York Times 15.03.1998; Depeche du Midi 26.03.2003 M.Rabez "Joseph Kaputska (sic!), pianiste de talent; Le Figaro 27.10.2006 "Tentative d'operette en Dingochine de Serge Valetti: critique du Figaro", 20 minutes Europe 30.10.2006 article by C.Sainsard; Pariscope ed. of 15-21.11.2006

Trivia

*pianist actor for the 2005 edition of Avinion Festival, the biggest of its kind in the world
*speaks freely 5 languages but never learned to drive a car, this did not prevent him from attempting to be a car vendor at one point.
*Although comes from entirely non musical family his daughters Sophie, Manon and nephew Alexander also play piano

External links

* http://www.carnegiesmall.org