Christina Petrowska Quilico
I was honoured to have this opportunity to talk to the pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico about her extraordinary life in music and the arts. She shared wonderful and moving stories about Ann Southam, Louis Quilico, Pierre Boulez, Jacques Isrealievitch, and her legendary teacher Rosina Lhévinne.
photo: Bo Huang
I was really struck by Christina’s open-minded attitude throughout her long career to learning new music, culminating in almost 70 brilliant and powerful albums so far; it’s amazing to learn that most of her recordings are recorded live, in one take. Christina also shared how meaningful it is to her to be a mother and grandmother, as well as respected academic; she’s Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar at York University in Toronto. Among many honours, she has been appointed to the Order of Canada, and the Royal Society of Canada.
Her curiosity and creative energy seem limitless; she’s a poet and visual artist, she’s studied Ancient Egyptian culture, and she lives her life spiked with humour and a down-to-earth attitude. We are also including excerpts from several of Christina’s albums and performances including music by Mozart, Art Tatum, Ann Southam, Meredith Monk and David Jaeger, all detailed in the timestamps, with albums linked below.
Podcast Players Video Transcript Podcast
Christina Petrowska Quilico Website
Albums featured (thanks to Navona/Parma Records): Retro Americana Vintage Americana Mozart Sonatas for piano and violin Games of the Night Wind
I wanted to let you know about some other episodes I’ve linked directly to this one: with
conductor Jessica Cottis with a discussion of her synesthesia, Madeline Bruser, author of The Art of Practicing, Dr. Samantha Ege, the pianist and music historian best known for her award-winning work on Florence Price, the multi-faceted composer
Frank Horvat, and the inspiring violinist, filmmaker and activist Lara St. John.
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