"Madelyn Kowalski is a truly individual musician, with an unusually enquiring mind, and the ability to express deeply felt emotions through her playing. She is also a unique person - a highly talented  visual artist as well as cellist; maybe that (partly) explains why her performances are so vivid!"

American cellist Madelyn Kowalski grew up in a creative family on a small island in the Pacific Northwest of Washington State, surrounded by woods, sea, mountains, animals, music, and art, which all contributed to the inspiration and imagination she searches for in her work.Madelyn began cello lessons at age seven with Mia Frederickson and Leslie Marckx. 

She made her concerto debut with the Cascade Symphony at age 14. In 2016, Madelyn moved to the UK to study with Alison Wells at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). She graduated with her bachelor’s in 2020 and completed her master’s in 2022.​

In January 2023 Madelyn was invited by Steven Isserlis to give a recital at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, where her performance received the André Hoffmann prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work for the festival: Fuego Negro, by composer Diana Syrse. She is currently a 2023 Lamp Fellow in Nova Scotia where her recent chamber music collaborators have included Kim Kashkashian, Jane Coop, Anna Han, and Catherina Lee.

Cello

Madelyn Kowalski

Madelyn Kowalski, cello (USA) / Ambassador: Steven Issserlis

Soft yellow, blue and purple pastels paint scenes of reunion: A setting sun; A shore; A German Shepherd offering a balloon to a seagull that dives down to a dolphin. Painted by American cellist Madelyn Kowalski, these watercolour scenes demonstrate the same themes and artistic sensibility as composer Thomas Adès in 

 - each movement depicting a scene. We may ask ourselves how Kowalski will translate paintbrush to bow. In 

, we see. It begins with the stillness of water then transitions to an expanse of swirling motifs, as colours slowly muddy together. 

Equally dedicated to storytelling through music is American pianist Anna Han - described as “prodigiously gifted” by the Washington Post, with a vivid “display of imagination and taste…far beyond her years”. Together, Han and Kowalski will interpret Fauré’s 

Romance for Cello and Piano in A Major, Op. 69

. Muted in its melodic style, the compositional restraint allows an intensity of feeling to simmer near the surface. 

Such compositional restraint sometimes translates into lexical restraint. After the success of his 

, Fauré was encouraged to write another duo for cello and piano by his publisher, Hamelle. Fauré agreed and created “Piece for Violoncello”. Expecting more evocative imagery, Hamelle insisted he change the title. It became “Papillon” (butterfly). However, this did not necessarily emerge from deep artistic reflection. Reportedly, Fauré declared: “Butterfly or dung fly – call it whatever you want”. Comprising a single movement, this work nonetheless became a staple of Romantic repertoire. 

No dung flies are apparent in Kaija Saariaho’s 

 (Seven Butterflies). As a metaphor for the ephemeral, this work – one of Saariaho’s best – involves several extended techniques for the cello, such as harmonics, variable bow pressure, and sul ponticello. It demands technical dexterity and a mastery of different emotional worlds: “Sweet, light and free” in the first movement, “Calm, with sadness” in the third and “Always a little nervous, timeless” in the sixth. 

These emotional worlds are deliberately stirred in Camille Saint- Saëns’

 Sonata for Cello and Piano No.2 in F Major, Op. 123

. His third movement, he wrote, is “a romance that will delight cellists…the Adagio will bring tears to sensitive souls”. However, not all have heavy emotional weight: the second movement is a Scherzo with eight variations (including a fugue). The ending Rondo engages piano and cello in playful imitative games, “[waking up] anyone who’s slept through the rest of the piece.”  

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Madelyn Kowalski, cello
Anna Han, piano

Cello & Piano Recital

07.03.24

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