Program About the Performers

Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53 Tomasz Robak Tomasz Robak “Heroique” Polish-American Tomasz Robak began playing Nick-named the “Heroic Polonaise” and sometimes referred to as the the piano at age six. Currently, Mr. Robak is pursuing a “Drum Polonaise,” this piece is one of Chopin’s most popular works. Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree at The majestic composition takes advantage of the piano’s wide range of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, studying notes, and the tempos vary from free, sweeping melodies to rapid under Dr. Robert Roux. Mr. Robak is a graduate of scales. Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and the Merit School of Music in . During his high school Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 years, Mr. Robak was a laureate of local (CPS) and A dark, dramatic composition, this piece begins at a lightning-quick state (NFSHSA) piano competitions. One of his most important teachers pace. A slower middle section in B Major is followed by a virtuosic in recent years was Abraham Stokman from the Music Institute of ending including ten-note chords and arpeggiated flights spanning Chicago, who led him through a very successful college audition season. nearly the entire keyboard. In early 2008, Mr. Robak was featured on Chicago’s 98.7 WFMT program “Introductions” where his performance of a work of Chopin has been Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61 Mio Nakamura rebroadcast on several occasions. He has performed at various venues including Duncan Recital Hall at Rice University, Lilly Hall at the This work opens with a polonaise-style section boasting complex University of Indianapolis, Nichols Hall in Evanston, Merit School of harmonies and many key changes. The piece then shifts to a slow, Music and Copernicus Center Chicago. A versatile musician, Mr. Robak lyrical lento, and the conclusion contains dazzling double trills also has extensive experience in church music and is a proficient reinstating the opening as well as a grand reiteration of the lento theme. organist and cantor.

Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27 No. 2 Michael Pecak This piece explores all facets of a single mood, with graceful and Mio Nakamura increasingly complex ornamentation used to expand upon two strophes. Mio Nakamura, a native of Kyoto, Japan, has One fragment from the opening melody was even used in the James established herself as a much-in-demand soloist, Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. collaborative artist, and chamber musician in the Chicago area and abroad. As a scholarship student of Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31 Ludmila Lazar, Ms. Nakamura recently received a Said to be the most popular of all Chopin’s scherzos, this piece opens Performance Diploma at Chicago College of with contrasting soft and loud chords before leading to an animated Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, where she main melody. After the melody repeats three times, the piece undergoes also earned B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano performance with honors. a magnificent key change and ends in a splendid coda. She is a graduate of Kyoto Municipal Senior High School of Music in Japan, and her former teachers include Iyuko Hishida, Junko Ishida, Keiko Takeuchi, and Michiko Takeuchi.

About the Composer Ms. Nakamura has performed for the PianoForte Salon Series, presented by the PianoForte foundation, broadcast live on 98.7 WFMT. Frédéric Chopin She made her debut with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest in Frédéric Chopin was born in Poland in 1810, and this concert is being 2008, performing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 conducted by held in honor of the bicentenary of his birth. A child prodigy, Chopin music director Jay Friedman, who described her as "an exceptional became one of the world’s most renowned composers of the Romantic talent". In 2009 Ms. Nakamura appeared with the Evanston Symphony era. Chopin preferred to give performances in intimate settings such Orchestra, conducted by music director Lawrence Eckerling; in addition, as drawing rooms and parlors, making this concert a reflection of how she was selected to perform at CCPA's Inaugural Piano Showcase Chopin’s music was performed during his lifetime. Recital as one of the college’s brightest, most talented piano students. Ms. Nakamura made several appearances at concerts, such as The Chiune Sugihara Remembrance Night and Trombone Recital by Megumi Kanda, presented by the Consulate General of Japan at Chopin Over the Pacific Chicago. She has regularly performed for the Chicago Musicians Club of Women, the Lake View Musical Society, and the New Chicago Japanese American Association.

Since the summer of 2009, Ms. Nakamura has been on the piano faculty at the People's Music School of Chicago. In the fall of 2009, she joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as an associate keyboardist, and has regularly performed in concerts including the Symphony Center's PIERRE BOULEZ @ 85 as well as the Civic Concert under the direction of the Civic's principal conductor, Cliff Colnot. In Civic Ms. Nakamura has worked with Mary Sauer, the principal keyboardist at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In this coming October 2010, Ms. Nakamura will be back as soloist with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest, performing the Liszt Totentanz. Ms. Nakamura's other future engagements include a collaboration with the clarinetist Sergey Gutorov from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as collaborations with Yukiko Ogura, violist from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Michael Pecak Michael Pecak was born in Chicago and began playing the piano at the age of five. In June of 2008, Mr. Pecak graduated from Northwestern University where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree specializing in both Piano Performance and Orchestral Conducting. As a scholarship student Friday, July 16th, 6:30pm at Northwestern, he studied piano with Professor Alan Chow, conducting with Professor Victor Yampolsky, and chamber music/accompaniment with Professor Elizabeth Buccheri. Mr. Pecak At the Official Residence has performed in numerous master classes where he has worked with of the Consul General of Japan at Chicago, such distinguished pianist-pedagogues as Arnaldo Cohen, Norma George Hisaeda Fisher, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Janusz Olejniczak, Lee Kum-Sing, Andrzej Dutkiewicz, and Emilio del Rosario. 6:30pm Cocktails In addition to his numerous Chicago area performances, Mr. Pecak has performed at and attended the Piano 7:00pm Welcome Remarks Workshop in Warsaw, Poland and the Gold Country Piano Institute in by Consul General Hisaeda Nevada, City, California. During the 2008-2009 academic year, he 7:05pm Piano Concert to be followed by dinner studied at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw as a Fulbright Scholar.