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Songs of Central Europe

Paulina Swierczek, soprano and Erika Switzer, pianist

Asbury First United Methodist Church, 1050 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607

A return appearance of acclaimed soprano, Paulina Świerczek, featuring famous songs from Central Europe composed by Moniuszko, Chopin, Brahms, Dvorak, Bretan, and others. She will be accompanied by pianist Erika Switzer.

Free and open to the public.

Meet the Artists

Praised by the Rochester City Newspaper for her "honeyed tone," the Milbrook Independent for her “attractive, comforting appeal” and by the Boston Globe for “a rich voice that could go in a blink from speaking to soaring” - as well as her “killer side-eye” - soprano Paulina Swierczek is gaining acclaim as vibrant story-teller, combining technical facility with a passion for communication.

Concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Strauss’s Four Songs, op. 27, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Egmont, op. 84, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, Poulenc’s Gloria, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. Favorite roles include Brunnhilde (Die Walkure, Siegfried), Therese (Les Mamelles du Tiresias), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), The New Prioress (Les dialogues des Carmelites), and the Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro). A Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, she has premiered works at the Festival of Contemporary Music, performed with the TMCO (Sieben fruhe Lieder, Chantefleurs et Chantefables) and has been featured in numerous cantatas of J. S. Bach under John Harbison.

Paulina has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Now, the Broad Street Orchestra and the Little Orchestra Society, among others. She is an alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Meistersinger Program at Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar and SongFest. Paulina has recently also been featured by Sparks and Wiry Cries on the 2022 songSLAM Festival as part of the Songs of Identity Series. She is widely sought for her interpretations of Polish art song, having presented programs hosted by the Universities of Pennsylvania and Rochester and in recital by the Canadian Chopin Society and Downtown Music at Grace.

In the 22/23 season, Paulina made her role and company debut as Donna Elvira in Toronto City Opera’s production of Don Giovanni, performed a program of Polish art song across New York, and sang arias of Mozart and Bellini with the Union College Orchestra. She was a prize winner of the 2023 Opera Birmingham Competition.

Erika Switzer is an accomplished collaborative pianist who performs regularly in major concert settings around the world, such as New York’s Weill Hall (Carnegie), Frick Collection, and the Kennedy Center. Her performances have been called “precise and lucid” (New York Times), and “intelligent, refined, and captivating” (Le Monde). She has won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions. Switzer is a co-founder of the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, which curates opportunities for art song creators, performers, and scholars through innovative initiatives that capture the stories of our diverse communities. She is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Collaborative Piano Studies at Bard College and its Conservatory of Music, and holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School.