ZUMI PIANO DUO

MIKOLAJ WARSZYNSKI & ZUZANA SIMURDOVA

Laureates of Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris

Zuzana Simurdova and Mikolaj Warszynski met as artists-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the arts in the Western Canadian Rocky Mountains, in winter 2005.

The ZUMI Piano Duo (formerly known as Warszynski – Simurdova) was subsequently formed in 2007 in Montreal. Alongside their individual training, they were also studying piano duo for 3 years with Jean-Eudes Villancourt at the Université de Montréal – himself a pupil of Perlemuter in Paris.

- both concert pianists are versatile performers who enjoy playing a wide range of genres, as well as offering

a unique alternative approach to traditional presentation. In addition to performing piano duo for four-hands and two pianos, they enjoy to alternate solo repertoire and/or chamber music.

Since inception, ZUMI duo has been regularly featured in the performance of music by contemporary composers. In 2007, they gave the Canadian premiere of Claude Vivier’s Disintegration for two pianos, at the Theatre de la Gésu in Montreal, as part of the Serie Hommage of the Société de musique contemporaine du Quebec.

In 2009, they made their debut recital in Poland, during the prestigious contemporary music festival Swietokrzyskie Dni Muzyczne, held annually in the Philharmonic Hall in the city of Kielce. In 2010, the Duo actively promoted the music of Chopin in a series of multimedia concerts on the occasion of the 200th Anniversary of the composer’s birth, produced by Mazurka Music and Art & Chopin2010 Alberta.

The Duo has since went on to perform 2 Canadian Tours (2011 & 2015), 4 European Tours (2013 & 2014, 16, 19), and China Tours (2015 & 2017). The ZUMI duo has performed in Canada, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, South Korea, and China.

ZUMI duo performed at New Music Edmonton’s ‘Hear This Now’ festival with works commissioned for performance either on two pianos or four-hands. For this concert, they have selected a repertory of new works by living Canadian and international composers – including Piotr Grella-Mozejko, Ian Crutchley, Miguel Bellusci, Rozalie Hirs, Jacek Sobieraj, George Andrix, and Linda Catlin Smith.

During the year of 2020/21, due to public health restrictions, ZUMI Piano Duo was able to live-stream series of concerts from their home-salon. They were collaborating with Music at Southminister Ottawa, with the SVU Czech Society Alberta, TKP Edmonton, the Wirth Institute and the Winspear Centre for the Arts.

"As a duo their playing blended superbly.

The jocular “Allegro molto” brought the concert to a

stunning conclusion. Both of the musicians were totally

synchronized – even in their gestures. It was definitely a

performance to remember."

Jerry Ozipko, Panorama Polska, Edmonton Canada 2015