Anna Maria Jopek - vocals Krzysztof Herdzin - piano Piotr Nazaruk - zither, flute, vocals Robert Kubiszyn - double bass “Anna is original, unique, different. She's brave, she's modest, she's open. She's a great musician. What she's been doing all her life is just trying to play the best notes.” - Pat Metheny. Called Poland's “dearest singer”, Anna Maria Jopek released about twenty albums, selling more than a million copies worldwide so far. A classically trained pianist, Anna Maria graduated at Chopin's Academy of Music in Warsaw. After brief studies at Manhattan School of Music's Jazz Department Anna decided not to play Mozart concertos anymore and traded in her beloved Ravel for Keith Jarrett, Philharmonic Hall for small, smoky clubs and theatres. “Please do not file my music under jazz”, Anna Maria Jopek says though. “Nor under pop, folk... whatever. I embrace a lot of influences. Jazz is by far the most important in its freedom, its harmony and its sense of time but I was brought up with the old Polish folk songs. So I'm kind of rooted here in all these Slavic landscapes and sounds.” It is still hard not to call her a jazz diva as With 14 albums of her own Anna Maria Jopek performed and recorded with all the important artists in Poland from Leszek Możdżer to Tomasz Stańko. The circle of her international partners range from Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Bobby McFerrin, Branford Marsalis trough Nigel Kennedy, Richard Bona, Oscar Castro-Neves, Dhafer Youssef, Mino Cinelu, up to Manu Katche, Christian McBride, Makoto Ozone, Tord Gustavsen, or even Youssou N’Dour. Upojeine, her album with Pat Metheny sold hundred-thousand copies only in Poland, internationally released later by Nonesuch. Although she plays open air gigs before 5,000-8,000 fans, Anna prefers an intimate setting to a huge concert hall and performs about 100 concerts each year, from Toronto to Vienna, London to Berlin. And while she has been given awards, including Michel Legrand's Personal Award in Witebsk in 1994, not to mention literally all of the Polish prestigious awards and Gold and Platinum records, nevertheless Anna Maria Jopek is known for saying: “Music itself is the highest award for me. And the greatest challenge. With so many questions remaining to be answered”. Though singing occasionally in English, Anna Maria Jopek performs mostly in Polish and prefers by the arrangements of her compositions the use of traditional Polish instruments as well. “I am Polish. I come from the vast meadows of central Poland, I’ve been brought up with its musical traditions, but it does not make my ID complete. Especially now, with the world getting so much smaller every single day. I truly believe that the new music might emerge from coexistence of so many so different voices, influences, traditions, religions.”
www.annamariajopek.pl SOLD OUT! (((Tickets for 2000 HUF available on site and through the national Interticket network and at JEGY.HU online ticket store)))