"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy...the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents."
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is a pivotal hero of Romanticism in music. His musical genius and compositional skill have had an immeasurable influence on multiple generations of composers, performers, and audiences. In addition, his fascinating and heroic personal life story continues to inspire people around the globe. As a representative of a truly Romantic movement, Beethoven held in highest esteem the values of Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood that we cherish today around the globe.
2020 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of this monumental composer. It provided us with a wonderful opportunity to bring his fascinating musical and personal history closer to all audiences of the Northern Colorado region.
We invite all of you to participate in the Series.
Joseph Karl Stieler, Portrait of Beethoven, 1819, oil, Collection Walter Hinrichsen, New York.
Vision:
We envision a future in which diverse communities of the Northern Colorado region collaborate and stimulate artistic creativity and innovation. Economical and political divisions are transformed into constructive dialogues and actions focused on empowering all communities. Musical concerts become events where communities can express and celebrate their individual identities and collective commonalities.
Mission statement:
Our communities stand at the core of our activities. The Concert Series will focus on providing access to excellent quality performances with an educational component. The series will actively engage and promote artists representing diverse communities of the Northern Colorado region, while also offering the opportunity to our audiences to interact with national and international guest artists and presenters in an approachable setting. Through an innovative programming, the series will draw on the phenomenal musical legacy of Beethoven in a series of musical events focused on his piano music.
Structure:
Events will happen throughout the Fall 2021, culminating in the final performance taking place on Beethoven's birthday on December 17th. All events, except for the opening and final performance, will be free of charge for all and include interactive educational elements for all to enjoy and appreciate the music in its full potential. Performances will take place in multiple venues throughout the region and feature variety of local artists, students, and guests.
Our Team
Adam Piotr Żukiewicz, Founder and Artistic Director
Adam Żukiewicz is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed concert pianist. He concertized across Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Macau, and his performances were broadcast in the USA, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, and Poland. Mr. Żukiewicz consistently receives critical acclaim, while his innovative programming - focused on exploring connections between the popular and the lesser known gems of the traditional and contemporary repertoire - continues to engage and inspire audiences around the world.
Mr. Żukiewicz is an Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, where he currently resides. He serves as a Resident Faculty Pianist at the International Music Festival of the Adriatic in Duino (Italy), and is a founder and Artistic Director of the Intercollegiate Piano Competition of the West. He is also a founding member of the Colorado Piano Trio. Prior to his arrival in Greeley, Mr. Żukiewicz served as faculty at the University of Toronto and St Michael's Choir School in Toronto. His students studied in renowned institutions such as Indiana University and Eastman School of Music, and their successes include festival and competition awards in Canada,Italy, Singapore, and USA.
Jittapim (Nan) Yamprai, Artistic Co-Director
Jittapim Yamprai served as an Assistant Professor in Music History and Ethnomusicology at the School of Music, University of Northern Colorado. She holds a doctorate in Music History and Literature from the University of Northern Colorado where her dissertation received an outstanding dissertation award in 2011. Nan has two master's degrees, one in in Ethnomusicology from Mahidol University, Thailand and another degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. She teaches classes for the schools of music, anthropology, and Asian studies. She also established a mixed Asian ensemble that combines traditional instruments from several Asian cultures and western instruments. Her research and publication are in the area of East-West musical interaction including Franco-Siamese Music Diplomacy in the seventeenth century, Music and Minorities in Diaspora, Music of the Catholic Church in Thailand, Music and Colonization in Siam, Music in the Ayutthaya Period, and Southeast Asian Musical Materials for Contemporary Composition.
Hanguang Wang, Managing Director
Born and raised in China, Hanguang Wang started learning the piano at the age of six. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance at the Shandong Normal University, China. Upon her arrival in the United States in 2016, Hanguang began her studies with Dr. Zukiewicz at the University of Northern Colorado, completing her Master’s degree and Performance Certificate in Piano. She has performed in USA, Italy, Slovenia, and China, and has been an active piano teacher since 2011.
She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in piano performance at the University of Northern Colorado as a Graduate Assistant, both as a collaborative pianist and as a class piano instructor.
Shuang “Iris” Zhang , Marketing and Media Director
As a solo pianist, Shuang “Iris” Zhang has won the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Young Artist Solo Piano Competition of the West Central Division, International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival Concerto Division, Angie Southard Solo Competition, and University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. She has been invited for membership in the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, and has been awarded the Bob Ross International Ambassador and Activities Award by the Center for International Education of UNC. As a concerto soloist, Iris has also performed with Alicante Philharmonic Orchestra in Italy, Boulder Symphony, and UNC Symphony Orchestra.
Iris’ diverse skill sets has led her to be the founder and the manager of Enterprise for Performing and Inspirational Career (E.P.I.C.) in China, a music business organization devoted to create and bridge the domestic musical talents and global resources, such as engaging in the promotion of international music competitions and festivals, and promotion and recruitment of students for universities and professors in the United States. Moreover, she is a board member of International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival (IKOF), which is a yearly top-level international keyboard festival headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Iris is currently a doctoral student in Piano Performance at the University of Northern Colorado. She will devote her entire life to piano performance, piano teaching, and music business.
Jubal Fulks, Artistic Advisor
Since his appointment at the University of Northern Colorado in 2013, Associate Professor of Violin Jubal Fulks has become one of the most successful and sought-after violin teachers in Colorado. His students include competition winners at the state, regional, and national levels, many of whom have gone on to lead professional careers as music educators, orchestral musicians, and attend prestigious music festivals and graduate programs throughout the United States and abroad.
An acclaimed performer, Dr. Fulks maintains and active and multi-faceted performance schedule. Along with his UNC School of Music colleagues Adam Zukiewicz and Gal Faganel he formed the Colorado Piano, which performs concerts, outreach, and recruiting activities across the region and nationally. Recent performances include Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and a feature on Colorado Public Radio’s “Colorado Spotlight,” and the trio looks forward to beginning a Greeley-based concert series to bring high-quality chamber music to northern Colorado. Dr. Fulks also serves as a leader and founding member of Sinfonia Spirituosa, a baroque chamber orchestra based in Sacramento, California. Sinfonia Spirituosa is dedicated to presenting bold, historically-informed performances on period instruments, and to bringing to life the broad spectrum of color, affect and rhetoric inherent in the music of the Baroque era.
Dr. Fulks has performed as soloist with orchestras across the United States and has been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” His orchestral and chamber music experience includes Grammy-nominated performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in New York City at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Jazz at Lincoln Center series, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. As a recitalist, he has appeared at numerous summer festivals and concert series in the United States and Asia and has toured extensively in Europe. During the summer months he is on the faculty of Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont and has been a faculty member at Montecito International Music Festival in California, Lutheran Summer Music Festival in Iowa, and Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont.
Dr. Fulks holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in violin performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he studied with Kevin Lawrence, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where his teacher was Mitchell Stern. He lives in Greeley with his wife, hornist Lauren Varley, and their children Patrick, Finnian, Oliver, and Flannery.