Full Biography
Philadelphia Magazine writes that accordionist Lidia Kaminska “causes jaws to drop at concert halls from Europe to [Philadelphia’s] Kimmel Center,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer says she “sets the room ablaze.” The native of Poland has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, and her chamber music, concerto, and solo performances explore the complex and expressive range of the accordion as a classical instrument. Her repertoire spans a wide range of classical, contemporary, and avant-garde music, and she conceived her first album, Breaking Boundaries, as part of her mission to change the accordion’s perception from parlor entertainment to a serious classical instrument. The Philadelphia Inquirer has deemed Ms. Kaminska a “virtuosic classicist with the power and guile to lead her instrument into the upper levels of musical society.”
Lidia Kaminska began playing the accordion at the age of eight. By eleven she was competing in international competitions in Bulgaria and Germany, and just a year later gave solo performances in Holland, Austria, and Germany, and Poland. Upon receiving a Master’s degree from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, she came to the U.S. to study at the University of Missouri/Kansas City, and at 25 became the first (and only) person in the U.S. to receive a Doctorate in Accordion Performance.
The recipient of a 2009 Career Advancement Award from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, Ms. Kaminska also received First Prize in the 2002 Accordion Teachers Guild International Competition, the Special Prize in New York City’s International Tango Music Competition (with Argentine tango ensemble Tango Lorca), and Second Prize at the 2007 Coupe Mondiale International Competition for Ensemble Music. She is also a winner of Astral Artists’ 2007 National Auditions.
Ms. Kaminska has researched and performed the works of Astor Piazzolla extensively, and has a special interest in new music. She has premièred works by Julia Alford Fowler and Paul Rudy, and has performed with contemporary music ensembles New Ear and Musica Nova. Recently, she was featured on tour with Cirque du Soleil, in its popular Alegría show. A frequent collaborator in dance, she has also performed in BalletX’s world-première performances. She went on to collaborate with Mathew Neenan of BalletX, and with dancer/choreographer Jorge Laico for Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and the Owen/Cox Dance Group.
Ms. Kaminska recently appeared in concert alongside legendary tenor Plácido Domingo in Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall. Symphony in C featured her in a sold-out performance as soloist in Piazzolla’s Aconcagua concerto for bandoneón, and she made a return appearance with Symphony in C. She has also been a featured soloist with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, the Strings of Lodz, the Concord Chamber Orchestra, the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and been presented at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Philadelphia Magazine featured her in its 2006 “Best of Philly” issue, and her interview with Marty Moss-Coane was broadcast on NPR.
Spring 2007 marked Ms. Kaminska’s bandoneón debut, at Lincoln Center, and she recently gave her Merkin Recital Hall debut in New York. Upcoming engagements include Piazzolla’s Double Concerto with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and guitarist Jason Vieaux, the Piazzolla Concerto with Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and a performance in Japan’s Suntory Hall. In January 2011, she gives a solo recital for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Updated: MAY 2010
