Aka Duo was founded in 2018 by violinist Seina Matsuoka and pianist Yuto Kiguchi. The artists met during their studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and have since formed a harmonious duo, winning first prizes at prestigious competitions, including the International Chamber Music Competition “Giulio Rospigliosi” in Tuscany and the 3rd Polish Music Competition. During the concert, the musicians will present works by leading composers of Classicism and Romanticism and will also perform works by Polish artists from the 20th century –- Artur Malawski and Miłosz Magin. 

“These are musicians who are extremely talented, sensitive and consciously shape everything they have to convey,” said Marcin Majchrowski on Polish Radio after announcing the verdict awarding the young instrumentalists first place in last 3rd Polish Music Competition last year. As they themselves admit, taking part in the event helped them get to know Polish music better and love it even more. The proof will be the artists’ performance of Artur Malawski’s Burlesque, written in 1940. It is a lively piece, full of virtuoso elements, in which the composer places the concertante parts of both the violin and the piano on an equal footing. The work delights with its spectacularity, thanks to which generations of chamber musicians have reached for it. Andante for violin and piano from 1963 by Miłosz Magin is maintained in a completely different, subtle and melancholic mood. This piece was written in the first years after Magin moved to Paris, where he intended to develop his career as a virtuoso pianist. However, he had a serious accident, as a result of which he suffered a complicated fracture of a wrist. Since this incident kept him away from the instrument for a few years, the artist turned his attention to composition. Although the musical literature penned by him is still unjustly little known, it is increasingly performed both in Poland and abroad. 

The programme also includes the Violin Sonata in G major op. 30 by the last of the Viennese Classicists – Ludwig van Beethoven. He completed the work, consisting of three movements, in the summer of 1802 during his stay in the village of Heiligenstadt. It was a period full of uncertainty and fear for him – he realised then that he was irreversibly losing his hearing. Yet the difficult experiences are not reflected in the sonata full of radiant sounds, which will be performed by Aka Duo. The repertoire will be crowned by compositions of the legendary composers from Liège – Eugène Ysaÿe and César Franck. Rêve d’enfant (A Child’s Dream) op. 14 by the former is a lullaby dedicated to the artist’s youngest son – Antoine. The small work is distinguished by a charming, dreamlike aura, in which many see inspiration from fragments of César Franck’s Sonata in A major for violin and piano. The latter will be the last work performed. Interestingly, the sonata was composed by Franck as a wedding gift for Ysaÿe in 1886. The groom, delighted with the score, performed it accompanied by pianist Léontine Bordes-Pène during the wedding party.