Biography

 

Maria Welna, an Australian concert pianist, concert organist, composer and soprano, is a zealous keyboard virtuoso with a catching passion for music. A compellingly unique Australian artist of the younger generation, Maria has a history of championing new recital formats and the virtuoso tradition to musical and non-musical audiences. Her inborn dazzling flair for performance coupled with striking artistic vision, multiple-instrument virtuosity and a return to the composer-performer tradition makes her a rare performer mixing innovation with tradition.   Described by the press as a “born performer” with an “irrepressible style”, Maria has performed across a range of world-class venues (concert halls and cathedrals) in Australia, Europe and the USA, often for honourable guests and dignitaries. A performance for Queen Elizabeth’s 1999 visit to Perth remains a fond memory. Then state premier Dr Geoff Gallop and Pope John Paul II were also recipients of one of Maria’s recordings. She has been praised for “virtuoso”, “seemingly-effortless performances”, “amazing talent”, and has performed “some of the world’s most stunning repertoire”. 

 

As a recitalist, Maria’s artistic activity has appeared in a broad range of local, state, national and international newspapers/other media outlets with interviews, performances and compositions also broadcast on local, state and national radio (ABC Classic FM's 'Musica Viva Festival' coverage, 4MBS Classic FM, SBS and Bay FM). Maria has accumulated a vast array of awards and achievements at state, national and international levels including several Australian competition wins (spanning piano, voice and composition).  Additional successes include the set-up of a recital series (Chopin and Friends), two live solo piano CDs, two live solo piano DVDs, two chamber music CDs, numerous ensemble CDs, and other recordings. Maria has held seven years’ worth of musical director/performance positions in Krakow, Perth and Sydney, also working as an adjudicator. She currently maintains an impressive record as Artistic Director of many significant performance projects, including 'Lisztomaria' (Melbourne Recital Centre, cancelled due to Covid-19), ‘Concerts with no audience’ (lockdown edition) and ‘Concerts with an Audience’. 

As both a concert pianist and concert organist, Maria is a rare composer-performer exerting her influence as an inspirational proponent of creativity, performing practices, and arts advocacy. She delivers extensive recital programmes spanning from the pre-Baroque through to late-Romantic and contemporary periods. Whilst encompassing such a broad solo repertoire across several musical eras, Maria is an international recitalist with a particular affinity for the works of the nineteenth-century virtuosos, the 'Golden Age' of pianism, its 'concert organ' counterpart and historically informed performance. Due to this affinity Maria regularly incorporates selected Romantic performing practices in her performances, and often performs in the original and idiomatic combination of a one-performer, but multiple-instrument recital format (mostly solo piano and organ).
 
Maria's compositions have been performed nationally and internationally (Australia, Europe, USA), receiving accolades and awards. Often “dramatic”, “neo-classical”, or post-Romantic, they smartly combine “contemporary (elements) with a Romantic texture.” The Cadenza in the style of Liszt was premiered in Sydney and Europe. Parts of the Requiem for pipe organ and soprano (a concert work) were premiered in Sydney venues. Maria is also widely involved in chamber music. She has premiered new and rare works, participated in collaborations/recording projects of song cycles (including but not limited to works by Liszt, Ravel, Bartok, Schoenberg), and transcribed orchestral settings in the style of historical concert virtuosos. Notable performances comprised significant works by Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski, Dupre, Peeters, Gardner, Mozart, Haydn, Bach, and Faure. 
Maria’s musical pedigree can be traced to world-renowned music conservatories, and a plethora of distinguished concert artists/professors from the USA, Australia, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland and Germany. European and Russian School trained; Maria received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance (with additional programs in pipe organ and voice) from the K. Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, Poland. The degree culminated in a public recital and the presentation of a research thesis entitled "The genesis and development of the solo piano recital as exemplified by the practices of selected virtuoso pianists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (The Piano Recital - 'An Opera in 3 Acts')". She also holds a Master of Music Studies degree in performance (pipe organ) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  Maria completed performance practice fieldwork on historical keyboard instruments in Europe and Australia, with a particular focus on nineteenth-century developments. Maria is a specialist in virtuosic compositional and performing practices, with research output in performance practice and the composer-virtuoso tradition since 2012. In addition to performance, she is a passionate educator. Her expertise in piano (and organ) performance practice has been disseminated at international conferences in Europe, national conferences in Australia as well as tertiary and music institutions.
 
As a performance practice specialist, experienced pedagogue, chamber musician, guest lecturer and adjudicator, Maria also maintains an educational offering of lecture/recitals, masterclasses, individual piano, pipe organ, professional development lessons and chamber music. 
 
Please contact Maria’s team on management@mariawelna.com for all bookings. This includes online and face-to-face piano lessons, ‘Concerts with an Audience’ piano recitals (as well as all other concert, master-class and performance bookings). For regular updates, videos and content please like/follow at https://www.facebook.com/mariawelnarecitalist and subscribe to Maria’s YouTube channel at Maria Welna (Virtuoso Piano, Voice and Pipe Organ)  

"This born performer has tackled many of the hardest ... works, composed neo-classical pieces"

" ... a chance to showcase this young woman's irrepressible style"

The Courier-Mail

"Maria plays the masters"

" ... virtuoso Maria Welna ... an enthralling journey through the works of some of the great masters of classical music ..."

" ... some of the world's most stunning repertoire"

"Gifted soprano and composer"

The Bayside Bulletin

"Maria is a ... concert pianist and pipe organist with an amazing talent"

"Piano perfection"

"Gifted soprano and composer"

The Redland Times

"She's the picture of confidence. Her hands glide over the keys with [a] speed and sureness that defy her young age. She makes it look so easy."

" ... seemingly-effortless performance"

The Chronicle-Telegram

 

 


Maria Welna, a young Australian concert pianist, pipe organist, singer, composer, writer, and Arts advocate (to name a few) always had a clear vision of what her future would be like.  read more

 

Contact: management@mariawelna.com
 

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