Elzbieta Bilicka
"Some musicians play the piano. Some musicians express music through the piano. Polish pianist Elzbieta Bilicka is a prime example of the latter argument" (Classical Music Sentinel). Bilicka has been described as "an unusual and interesting artist" (Adam Rozlach, Polish Radio 1 and TV Culture) and "a haunting Chopinist (...) [capable of] making something lovely out of simplicity" (Fanfare Magazine).
Elzbieta has performed solo and with orchestras in many cities of her native Poland, as well as in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and USA. Her recitals and recordings have been featured on BBC Radio, Central New York’s Classic FM, Polish TV Culture and Polish Radio Koszalin.
In July 2021, Centaur Records released her debut CD: Lights and shadows, which was greeted with high critical acclaim. American Records Guide called it “a wonderful CD debut”, Fanfare Magazine praised its “strong poetic streak” and Classical Sentinel exclaimed: “Now, that's musicianship!”
Elzbieta is a prizewinner of various international piano competitions. The latest of them are: 1st prize at the 2nd G-clef International Music Competition in South Korea, (2021), 1st prize at the Walled City Music International Piano Competition in Derry, Northern Ireland (2020), 1st prize at the Putra International Piano Competition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2020), laureate title at the 10th International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, (2016) and 3rd prize at the Polish Chopin Piano NIFC Competition in Katowice, Poland (2016). In 2018, she was awarded the ‘Young Poland’ Scholarship of the Polish Minister of Culture.
Elzbieta holds a Master of Arts degree in Piano Performance from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (class of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, Agata Nowakowska-Gumiela and Alberto Nose). Between 2016 and 2018, she studied under Nelson Goerner at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve in Switzerland. Elzbieta is currently enrolled in the Professional Studies program at Manhattan School of Music in New York.
Next to performing, Elzbieta also writes articles on music and neuroaesthetics (neurological studies of aesthetics in art). She has been published in Universitas Gedanensis (2020, issue 58) and Art and Philosophy, a member of the International Association for Aesthetics (2021, issue 53). In her free time, Elzbieta is a passionate baker and hiker.
Between May 2019 and May 2022, Elzbieta served as Adjunct Professor at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University in Logan (UT). In July 2022, she joined the faculty of the Lindeblad School of Music in Pine Brook, NJ.