Next Thursday on October 11 at 12:10 in Walter Hall, Pianist Younggun Kim premieres three sonatas by Walter Buczynski, including No. 18, dedicated to Marietta Orlov.
Professor Walter Buczynski was born in 1933. He studied theory with Godfrey Ridout and piano with Earle Moss and Rosina Lhevinne in New York. He made his orchestral debut in 1955 with the Toronto Symphony playing the Chopin F minor concerto. In 1955 he also won the Fromm Award in Aspen, Colorado under Darius Milhaud. In 1960 he was the first Canadian to compete in the prestigious Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.
He continued his composition studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He returned to Canada in 1962 and taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music until 1969. From 1970 he taught at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto where he was a Professor in Theory and Composition.
His compositions have been performed in Canada and abroad – United States, Europe and Asia. In 1977 he received the Queen Elizabeth medal for achievement and development of Canadian Culture. In 1992 he received the Governor General 125th Commemorative medal. In 2008 the Polish Government bestowed on him the Gloria Artis medal for his musical achievement and body of work. After 30 years of teaching at the Faculty of Music he retired from the University. He continues to compose and has resumed his concert career.
Walter and Danuta Buczynski, 2009