The third concert of the 22-23 Tutunov Piano Series will feature its namesake, Alexander Tutunov on piano with guest artist Polish-American violinist Kinga Augustyn. 

Augustyn is a versatile New York City-based virtuoso concert violinist and recording artist. Ms. Augustyn has a large repertoire of more than 40 concerti, both standard and lesser–known, and has performed with such orchestras as the German Kammerorchester Berlin and the Wroclaw Philharmonic. Augustyn’s expanding discography on major labels such as Naxos, includes the Paganini Caprices, which music critics consider as convincing as Perlman’s or Midori’s, and an “an enduring benchmark” (Classical Net). “Stylish and vibrant” (The Strad Magazine), and “beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist!” (The Fanfare Magazine), Kinga Augustyn is often praised for her musical interpretations. Music Web International describes her recording of the Bruch Violin Concerto with Janacek Philharmonic as “extremely moving and expressive,” characterized by “beauty, richness and smoothness of her tone,” and as “music she responds to on a deeply personal and emotional level.” Gramophone calls her Turning in Time album “remarkable” and praises her for “vibrant intensity, caressing the phrases and bringing bold focus to the electric unfolding of creativity”.

Augustyn has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia, including the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, the Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, Queens Symphonyand the Riverside Symphonia. She has toured China and performed at China’s most prestigious venues such as Beijing Poly Theater and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. Other venues she has appeared at as a recitalist or chamber musician include both the Stern Auditorium and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center and, most recently, Teatro Ristori in Verona, Italy. In addition to concerti with orchestras and recitals with piano, she frequently performs unaccompanied solo violin recitals and is often praised for her unique programming ideas.

Augustyn’s most recent and critically acclaimed recording was released in 2021 by Centaur Records, and it features 20th and 21st Century unaccompanied solo violin works by Krzysztof Penderecki (world premiere of Capriccio), Debra Kaye (world premiere of Turning in Time), as well as other works, significant in the violin repertoire, by Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Isang Yun and Grażyna Bacewicz. Her second Centaur Records release in 2021 is La Pasión, which features 6 Tango-Etudes for Solo Violin by Astor Piazzolla.

In 2018, together with the Torun Symphony Orchestra and Mariusz Smolij, Augustyn released on Naxos an album of world premieres by the contemporary Polish composer Romuald Twardowski (b. 1930). Augustyn, who has proven her commitment to increasing awareness of music by Polish composers, had previously made a significant contribution to Polish music by recording the Polish Violin Music, a highly praised, “fascinating” (The Strad) album of lesser-known Polish composers. She has also recently released Telemann 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin (Centaur Records), in which “her interpretations are convincing in every piece here, and the Baroque spirit of the violin and Telemann’s mastery abiding throughout” (Music Web International); and Glen Roven’s Runaway Bunny Concerto performed with Catherine Zeta-Jones as a narrator and featuring Kinga Augustyn’s Solo Violin Cadenza (GPR Records). Her “exquisite playing” (Music Web International) is often praised for the profundity, deft phrasing, beautiful tone, mastery of the bow, and perfect intonation. “With completely secure technical control, she couples a tapestry of tone color to her innate musicality” (The Fanfare Magazine). Ms. Augustyn is an advocate of new music and premieres and records new works, oftentimes written especially for her.

Ms. Augustyn has won international awards, including First Prizes at the Alexander & Buono International String Competition (NYC), Artist International Presentations (NYC), J. S. Bach String Competition (Zielona Gora, Poland), and the 2017 "Young Poland" contest in Poland. Other top honors include prizes at the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Poertschach, Austria) and the Kloster Schoental International Young Artist Competition (Kloster Scheontal, Germany). 

Ms. Augustyn studied at The Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, Cho-Liang Lin, and Naoko Tanaka, and earned there both the Bachelor and the Master degrees. She also holds a doctorate from the Stony Brook University where she worked with Phil Setzer and Pamela Frank.

Kinga Augustyn plays on a violin made by Joseph Gagliano in 1774, generously on loan to her from a private collector.

The performance will be live streamed and is available for $20/household online at https://sou.universitytickets.com in person tickets are $25 per person.