"...while I play I strive to bring out the soul of the music that inspires me, and share its natural beauty and deep emotions with my audience..."

Recently heard at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, accomplished Polish-Canadian pianist Katarzyna Musial has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America and Europe.

The recipient of numerous awards and prizes among which include Second Prize in the 2010 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York, Third Prize in the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Cracow, the Alban Berg Prize for outstanding merit in Vienna, one of the top prizes in the Kay Meek Competition in Vancouver and the Philip Cohen Award for outstanding instrumental performer in Montreal. She is also laureate of the Mrs. Cheng Koon (S.K.) Lee Scholarship as well as scholarships from, The Banff Centre, the Vancouver Chopin Society the Quebec Polish Cultural Foundation, the Conseil des arts et lettres du Quebec and the Canada Council for the Arts. She has also received Diplomas of appreciation and praise from the Polish Consul General in Montreal as well as in Vancouver for celebrating Polish music and culture.

Recent highlights have included invitations for the Tempietto Festival Musicale della Nazioni in Rome, the 15th Festival of Polish Composers - Chopin 2010 in Poland as well as performances with the Toronto Sinfonietta and the Orchestre Symphonique de L'Isle. She will also be performing with the McGill Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Boris Brott in the 2010-11 concert season.

Ms. Musial has attended many international music festivals such as Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy; Gold Country Piano Institute in California; Academie musicale de Villecroze - Piano in the XXth Century, France; the 10th and 11th Internationale Sommerakademie Prag, Wien, Budapest and the International Music Festival in Paris.

Her repertoire showcases many different styles which span from baroque to modern as well as experimental works. As a result of her interest in modern music, Ms. Musial gave the world premiere of Mark Vance's, Nevada County Epitaphs-piano suite, which was dedicated to her, at the 2004 California Music in Mountains Festival as well as works by Jay Sydeman and Mark Vance the following year.

Ms. Musial has been broadcast and featured in radio interviews in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and California. She has made television appearances on POLTV in Vancouver, CJNT in Montreal and OMNI Television in Toronto.

She is an active chamber musician, in Poland had formed her own piano trio and Bellatrix duo. She has also worked with such artists as Robin Mayforth, Rupert Bergman, Janice Girard and Magdalena Barylak.

She has given concerts in Austria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Switzerland, the USA and Canada as well as in her native Poland. Selected venues have included among others, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, Chan Centre, Isabel Bader Theatre and Pollack Hall.

Ms. Musial holds a Masters degree with high honours from the Academy of Music in Cracow under Professor Stefan Wojtas, as well as an Artist Diploma from the Vancouver Academy of Music under Professor Lee Kum-Sing and a Diploma in Advanced Music Performance Studies from Montreal's Concordia University under Professor Anna Szpilberg. In 2010 she completed an Artistic residency at the prestigious Banff Centre. She has worked with many distinguished artists that include David Lively, Paul Gulda, György Nador, Piers Lane, Claude Helffer, Solomon Mikowsky, Ramzi Yassa and Ronan O'Hora.

Currently she is based in Montreal, Canada and her other interests include psychology, Eastern philosophy, art history, sports acrobatics, dance, skiing, yoga and tai chi.