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When Juno-Award winning pianist Janina Fialkowska returned to her Bavarian home from a long tour of Canada in mid-March of 2020, she had no idea that it would take two years for her to return to her native country.
Janina Fialkowska was looking forward to a tour of a seven weeks in Canada and the US starting in late January this year. But yet again, Covid logistics put a spanner in the works. What remained of this tour was a one-week trip across the Atlantic in early March with concerts in the US and a triumphant comeback recital for the Ottawa Chamber Festival.
At the end of April “one of the Grandes Dames of piano playing” (Frankfurter Allgemeine) will go on a tour of five Canadian provinces starting on April 21 in Halifax with Symphony Nova Scotia, followed by a recital in Quebec City for the Club Musical. After concerts with the Calgary Philharmonic she will perform in Ontario at the Guelph Festival as well as for the in Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society and at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts followed by a recital at Montreal’s Salle Bourgie. Janina Fialkowska will be ending the tour in Saskatchewan with a concert in Regina with the Regina Symphony and a recital in Saskatoon for Gustin House. After that she will return to Europe and perform at the Berlin Piano Festival in Germany’s Capital. She will be back in Canada for a tour of the summer festivals from mid-July to mid-August.
Janina Fialkowska’s long awaited autobiography finally released
But actually something positive came out of the situation: Being stuck at home allowed Janina Fialkowska to do the final corrections on her autobiography – a long-term effort that started as kind of a therapy during a serious illness about 20 years ago. Being home-bound gave her to find the time to finish it. A publisher was found and at the end of 2021 it was finally released: “A Note in Time”, novum publishing, London, UK.
Although loved around the world Janina Fialkowska has been a bit of a recluse for most of her life: “one of those ‘best-kept secret’ pianists, loved by connoisseurs for her tonal refinement and exquisite musical taste …” (London Sunday Times). However nowadays nothing is secret, everything is open to the world over the internet in real time and being a recluse is not an option.
Born in 1951 in Montreal , this was an era where little information was available about classical musicians. Which is why so much of Janina Fialkowska’s past has remained a mystery and very little is known of her early days. We knew what competitions she won and which concerts she played , but of her personal life, her struggles as a women in a male-dominated world, her life threatening illnesses, the extraordinary people with whom she came in contact and their influence over her life, we know nothing.
Now here in her book we read about long battles with physical and mental illness, her struggles with misogyny and her encounters with world famous musicians such as Arthur Rubinstein, conductors Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Sir Georg Solti as well as world celebrities such as Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco), Danny Kaye, Ginger Rogers, the Queen Mother and, of course, of her cousin Christopher Plummer. The book also does have its light-hearted, humorous side describing hilarious adventures on tour in countries all over the world. Memories from Janina Fialkowska’s rich life in music.
It was a bumpy ride for the book’s release right during another serious Covid wave, which didn’t allow any public launching events or readings. Nevertheless the book found its audience mainly through social media. Since then readers from around the globe have commented enthusiastically. The common demeanor of most of those comments as well as the first reviews has been the sentiment: “I can’t put that book down.”
… it is a volume to savour and treasure … a from-the-heart, feel-good memoir, highly recommended for all piano lovers … Joseph So, Ludwig van Toronto, January 10, 2022
…. Once you get started, you just don’t want to put the book down … But be warned, you may find yourself staying up well past your bedtime, reading just one more chapter in this vivid personal account by a seasoned Canadian musical icon … Howard Dyck, The Music Times, VOL. XVI, No.1
Janina Fialkowska has succeeded in writing a very readable, very open personally as well as immensely detailed autobiography, the kind of which one rarely gets to read …an important autobiography.
Carsten Dürer, PianoNews 2/2022 (Germany, translated)
April 21 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Chopin concerto No.2 in f-minor Symphony Nova Scotia, Holly Mathieson, Conductor
April 24 Québec City, Québec, Palais Montcalm Recital for Club Musical
April 29/30 Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jack Singer Concert Hall, Chopin f-minor concerto, Calgary Philharmonic, Rune Bergmann, conductor
May 6 Guelph, Ontario, Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall, Recital for the Guelph Musicfest 2022
May 7 Waterloo, Ontario, (?), Recital for Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society
May 8 Hamilton, Ontario, Recital for the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts
May 10 Montréal, Québec, Salle Bourgie
May 14 Regina, Saskatchewan Conexus Arts Centre, Grieg: piano concerto in a-minor, Regina Symphony, conductor: Gordon Gerrard
May 17 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Recital for Gustin House
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