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Adam Golka

Since taking home the gold medal from the 2nd China Shanghai International Piano Competition in 2003, 21-year-old American pianist Adam Golka has been making a name for himself as a new and exciting presence on concert stages around the world. Equally at home as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Adam's engaging interpretations of music from all corners of the repertoire continue to win the acclaim of critics and the hearts of listeners alike.

JULY 2007:
Adam is proclaimed a winner of the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Award!
Learn more about this prestigious distinction at the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival Homepage.
Winner of the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the 2003 China Shanghai International Piano Competition, 21-year-old pianist Adam Golka has nearly 200 performances under his belt. He has performed with the symphonies of Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Diego, Fort Worth, Albany, Mobile, Missouri, Lubbock, Key West, York (PA), and Acadiana, in the US, and abroad with the Shanghai Philharmonic, Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco (Guadalajara), and Sinfonia Varsovia.

Golka's solo performances have taken him to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Nakanoshima Hall in Osaka, Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) and Merkin Hall in New York, the Ravinia Rising Stars Series, the Gilmore Rising Stars Series, Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, Hobby Center in Houston, Barge Music in Brooklyn, and the Music@Menlo, Newport and Duszniki-Chopin music festivals. Throughout 2006, Adam gave his first performance of Beethoven's complete 32 piano sonatas cycle in Fort Worth, in nine concerts, which were also viewed by hundreds via live internet webcasts.

Highlights from Adam's upcoming schedule include performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony under Donald Runnicles, Liszt's First Piano Concerto with the Grand Rapids Symphony under David Lockington, Brahms' First Piano Concerto with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra under Michael Christie, Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony, and concertos of Liszt, Schumann, Grieg, and Ravel with the Lansing, Riverside, Southeast Texas, Lubbock and Key West Symphonies. Adam will also be giving recitals at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City and a return recital at the Newport Music Festival, along with a performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A Minor with acclaimed violinist Dmitri Sitkovetsky.

Equally at home as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Golka's unusually large repertoire encompasses all corners of the piano literature, from Bach to today's jazz-influenced Nicolai Kapustin, with a particular interest in forgotten masterworks, especially those by Russian romantic Nicolai Medtner. He enjoys talking to the audience in his concerts because he believes that communicating with the public can enhance the listening and overall experience of concerts.

A 1st generation American, Golka owes his unique background to his parents, Polish musicians who fled Communist-controlled Poland in the 1980's in search of a better life. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Golka moved to Fort Worth when he was 15 to study in the Artist Diploma Program at Texas Christian University. In spring 2005, he completed his studies at TCU under the guidance of renowned pianist Josè Feghali. His other main teachers were Dariusz Pawlas and his mother, Anna Golka. He currently continues to take lessons with Mr. Feghali, whom Adam considers his most important mentor, and is constantly furthering his musical education, by taking lessons with other favorite pianists of his.

Adam recently completed his participation, as one of four selected participants, in the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop with Leon Fleisher on Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. This past summer, Adam also took part in Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, where he studied solo and chamber music with Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Gary Hoffman, John O'Connor, Menahem Pressler, and Arie Vardi, among others.

Beginning this Fall, Adam will be studying with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

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