dr hab. Oriana Masternak, prof. AMKP – HEAD
As an accomplished violinist, chamber musician, and professor at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow, Oriana Masternak is an award-winning interpreter and researcher of Polish music, both forgotten and new. She regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Asia, the Americas, and Europe, presenting a versatile repertoire of masterpieces from all eras and premieres of works dedicated to her. As critics have noted, her playing is characterized by “beautiful sound, extremely rich timbres, flawless intonation, and natural phrasing.”
Oriana has performed at major festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in the USA, the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, the Mozartiade in Augsburg, the Kalkalpen Festival in Grossraming, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, the 21st Frühling Wiener Festival in Konzerthaus, Vienna, Warsaw Autumn, and Sacrum Profanum. In January 2012, she performed at the famous Musikverein hall in Vienna, and in November 2014, at the Museum of Pushkin in Moscow. In December 2015, she performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In the fall of 2019, she was invited to perform 13 recitals with Polish music in the most prestigious concert halls of China, with pianist Justyna Danczowska. Since 2014, Oriana has been a member of the Messages Quartet, an ensemble specializing in the performance of Polish chamber music.
Oriana is a winner of numerous awards at national and international competitions, including in Bulgaria, New York, Vienna, the Netherlands, and Italy, as well as in Kraków and Łódź. She is also a scholarship holder of various organizations, including the Young Poland Scholarship Program, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, European Chamber Music Academy, Louise Willson Scholarship (Yale University, USA), Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Thomastik Infeld company, Małopolska Scholarship Foundation “Sapere Auso”, and Creative Scholarship of the City of Krakow.
The artist studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków (diploma with distinction in the class of Prof. Roman Reiner), the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, the European Chamber Music Academy, the Yale School of Music, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Her artistic masters include Johannes Meissl, Katalin Sebestyen, Małgorzata Skorupa, Magdalena Szczepanowska, and the Tokyo Quartet.
In 2014, the publishing house of the Academy of Music in Krakow released the artist’s debut album with works for violin and piano by Lucien Durosoir (with pianist Sławomir Cierpik), and in 2017, the album “Philipp Scharwenka. Music for violin and piano” was published by the Acte Prealable publishing house (with pianist Sławomir Cierpik). Oriana has also recorded for the DUX Publishing House (S. Laks’ Complete String Quartets performed by the Messages Quartet and the album “Messages”), SOLITON, and the FCUM Publishing House. In 2021, two albums were released by the DUX publishing house: “Parallels” (with pianist Justyna Danczowska) and “Bacewicz/Tansman – Piano Quintets” (Julia Kociuban and Messages Quartet) nominated for the Phonographic Academy Fryderyk awards.
In 2022, together with Julia Kociuban and the Messages Quartet, she received the main award of the 2nd “Muzyczne Orły” International Competition in the Chamber Ensemble category. In 2023, with the quartet, she was nominated for the Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej award in the Personality of the Year category.
Oriana Masternak is a violin professor at the Department of Violins and Violas at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow. She has also served as a juror at the Macroregional Chamber Auditions of Secondary Schools in Gdańsk, the 7th International Music Interpretation Competition in Krasiczyn, and the International Violin Competition “Janko Muzykant” in Sochaczew. She has led master classes in Poland and abroad, including in Spain and Brazil. For several years, she has been a lecturer at the Małopolska Academy of Talents in Łącko, as well as the Summer Academy of Music in Krakow and the “Jak Wieniawski” courses in Kazimierz.
The artist plays Sebastian Lang’s instrument from 1788.