Help us bring 25 of the top young pianists in the world to Los Angeles for the 2020 3rd Paderewski Piano Competition.

Enjoy Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Chopin played by the renowned Wojciech Kocyan on piano and Yoshika Masuda on cello. Meet other music aficionados at the wine and appetizer reception prior to the performance.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

5:00 pm: Reception

6:00 pm: Recital

$65 per guest

Seating is limited. Please reserve early.

All donations are tax deductible.

Become part of our Patron Circle and enjoy priority access and special VIP packages to our events.

Membership to the Patron Circle at the Paderewski Music Society is a fantastic way to gain insider’s access to our events and competitions. By joining the Patron Circle, you will continue the legacy of Paderewski, the great stateman, musician and philanthropist and support the most talented young musicians around the world.

YOSHIDA MASUDA

Described by the press as ‘a remarkable cellist who possesses the intellect and innate musicality, which combined with his solid technique, allows him to accurately interpret different styles of music’ (Chopin music magazine), cellist Yoshida Masuda is fast emerging as one of the most unique and versatile artists of his generation. As the winner of national competitions in Australia, Japan and the US, Yoshika has performed throughout Australia, Japan, China, the US, Mexico, the UK and much of western Europe. A keen advocate of contemporary music, Yoshika has given the US & world premieres of works by Toshio Hosokawa, Derrick Spiva Jr., Bent Sørensen, Nick Strimple and Jörg Widmann. He has performed chamber music with Guy Ben-Ziony, Peter Frankl, Bruno Giuranna, Alissa Margulis and Qian Zhou, and is also the co-founder and cellist of the SAKURA cello quintet. Born in Kobe, Japan, Yoshika first started playing the cello at the age of five but moved to Australia as a young child where he began his studies with Georg Pedersen at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He then studied extensively with Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum, whilst also receiving close musical guidance from Thomas Demenga and David Geringas. Yoshika graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK with distinction and received the Principal’s Prize along with the Leonard Rose Cello Award for outstanding achievement. He gained his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the USC Thornton School of Music. Yoshika is currently the Assistant Professor of Cello and Director of String Studies at California Lutheran University.

WOJCIECH KOCYAN

Wojciech Kocyan was praised for his “highly distinctive performances (…) superb, intelligent artistry (…)” (.Classics Today.com) and “incisive temperament, impeccable technique and sumptuous tone” (Le Monde de la Musique.)

He studied with two of the world’s most esteemed piano pedagogues: Andrzej Jasinski in Poland, where he received his Masters Degree and with John Perry at the University of Southern California, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree.

Dr. Kocyan is a Clinical Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles.

He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including F.Busoni and Viotti, as well as a special prizes winner of the XI International Chopin Competition and a First Prize winner of the Paderewski Piano Competition. He performed in Europe, America, Mexico, Australia and Japan, participating in music festivals such as Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis, Capri Festival, Bydgoszcz International Music Festival, H.M.Gorecki Festival, Beethovenfest, Paderewski Festival, Liszt Festival in Vienna, San Francisco Liszt Festival, Cervantino International Music Festival, Morelia International Music Festival and the Chopin Festival in Paris. He has recorded for television, radio and film and his performances were broadcast in Europe, United States and Australia. His solo and chamber music recordings can also be found on DUX, Naxos and Spotify In 2007 the Gramophone magazine, published in London and considered the world’s most prestigious classical music journal, chose Mr. Kocyan’s recording of Prokofiev, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff as one of 50 best classical recordings ever made, alongside recordings of such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, Nicolaus Harnoncourt and Arthur Rubinstein.

His latest CD, of works of Robert Schumann, was released on DUX label in 2012.

Dr. Kocyan is also active as an adjudicator, lecturer, scholar and arts administrator. Besides numerous California competitions of all levels, including many state-wide competitions, he judged the MTNA Performance Competition at the State and Division levels, the American International Paderewski Piano Competition, Czerny-Stefanska International Piano Competition, Guitar Foundation of America International Artist Competition, International Peninsula Festival in Los Angeles and Schimmel- Arizona Youth Piano Competition. He has given masterclasses and lectures in France, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Japan, Mexico and United States, including such venues as the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Chopin University in Warsaw and the Szymanowski Academy in Katowice, Poland. He twice presented lectures and masterclasses at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference. In 2015 he presented masterclasses at the World Piano Conference in Serbia and was appointed the judge of the annual World Piano Competition.

In October 2017 he was one of five eminent international speakers invited to lecture at the international musicological conference “ Competition or music put to the test”, organized by the Chopin Institute in Warsaw in conjunction with the 17th International

Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. His paper on the evolution of the performance style in the history of the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw was included in the inaugural issue of the “Chopin Review”, a leading publication in Chopin scholarship, published by the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland. In 2018 he presented a lecture at the Music Teachers Association National Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Kocyan’s students have been winners in many local and state wide events, such as the Young Musicians Foundation, Southern California Junior Bach Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic Rising Stars, MTAC State Panel Auditions, Torrance Symphony Concerto Competition, CAPMT Honors Auditions, Liana Cohen Foundation Competition, Artists of the Future Competition, J.Cooke Awards, CAPMT Concerto Regional Competitions, Kathryn Gawartin Chopin Competition and MTAC Scholarships. They were presented on NPR’s “From the Top” radio program, KUSC 91.5 and in master classes with such artists as Lang Lang.

He serves as the Artistic Director and President of the Paderewski Music Society in Los Angeles and the Director of the American International Paderewski Piano Competition in Los Angeles. He is also the President of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, Santa Monica/South Bay Chapter and serves on the boards of several other cultural organizations.