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"brilliant technique and real emotional depth"

The Washington Post

biography

Polish-American pianist Adam Golka (born 1987) first performed all of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas when he was 18 years-old, and in 2020-2021 Adam Golka performed the complete cycle of Beethoven's 32 Sonatas at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (Florida) and at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (NYC), in socially-distanced and live-stream formats. Adam's performances of each Sonata were complemented by 32 short films he created, known as 32@32 (available on YouTube), documenting his preparation for climbing the Everest of piano literature and featuring an amalgam of distinguished guests, from an astrophysicist to Alfred Brendel.

Adam Golka's principal teachers have been José Feghali, with whom he studied at Texas Christian University, and Leon Fleisher, at the Peabody Conservatory. Since finishing his formal studies, Adam has continued to develop his artistry through mentorship from Alfred Brendel, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida, Evelyne Crochet, Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner, and Sir András Schiff, who invited Adam to give recitals at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Tonhalle Zürich, for the "Sir András Schiff Selects" concert series. Adam has also given solo recitals in Tokyo's Musashino Hall, Osaka's Nakanoshima Hall, Amsterdam's Kleine Zaal in Het Concertgebouw, Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg, Berlin's Piano Salon Christophori, and New York's Alice Tully Hall (presented by the Musicians Emergency Fund), as well as countless other venues around the US and Europe.

As a concerto soloist, he has appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony, NACO (Ottawa), Warsaw Philharmonic, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia, as well as over fifty orchestras in the US, including such well known ensembles as the San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, New Jersey, and San Diego symphonies. Adam has enjoyed collaborations with conductors such as Joseph Swensen, Donald Runnicles, Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Wigglesworth, JoAnn Falletta, and often with his brother, conductor Tomasz Golka. Adam gave his Carnegie Stern Auditorium début in 2010 with the New York Youth Symphony.

Chamber music is an integral part of Adam Golka's life, and he has performed repeatedly at the Krzyżowa-Music "Music for Europe" Chamber Music Festival, which has included tour performances at the Penderecki European Music Center in Lusławice (Poland) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Beethoven Bonn festivals (Germany), as well as Konzerthaus Berlin. He also performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor chamber music festivals in the US. Adam collaborates regularly with the Manhattan Chamber Players and in recital with baritone John Moore, cellist Jonathan Swensen and violinist Itamar Zorman, with whom he is scheduled for a third recital at the The Wigmore Hall in London 2026.

Adam's professional life began when he was awarded the first prize and audience prize at the 2nd China Shanghai International Piano Competition. In 2008, Adam won the Gilmore Young Artist Award and in 2009, he won the Max I. Allen Fellowship as part of the American Pianists Awards. Adam has recorded works by Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms for London-based First Hand Records, and in 2025 he will release two new albums for First Hand Records: Brahms' early piano works plus a world premiere recording of a piano work by Brahms biographer Jan Swafford, and also an album named "Chopin Sans Chopin," a personally curated selection of works inspired by Frédéric Chopin, including a world premiere of an 1894 Mazurka by Natalia Janotha.

As a pedagogue, Adam acted as Artist-in-Residence for six school years at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He has premiered works by Michelle Barzel Ross, Richard Danielpour, Michael Brown, and Jarosław Gołębiowski, and most recently Adam also performed and recorded the world premiere of the Piano Quintet by Andrea Casarrubios. Adam currently serves as Artist-Teacher at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA, and is also an Artistic Advisor to the Krzyżowa-Music "Music for Europe" Chamber Music Festival. 

When Adam is not making music, he loves to read classic literature, visit art museums, swim, and he is passionate about somatic learning and movement awareness, especially the Feldenkrais Method.

calendar

media

32@32

In cooperation with filmmaker Zac Nicholson, Adam Golka dives into 32 conversations, one corresponding to each of Ludwig van Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas, with a dazzling array of special guests.

Opus 81a ("Les Adieux"): Jan Swafford

Opus 53 ("Waldstein"): Alfred Brendel

Opus 79: Herbert and Carol Traxler

Opus 49 #1: Andrew Lu

Opus 2 #1: Leon Fleisher

Opus 13 ('Pathétique'): Osvaldo Golijov

Opus 90: Joseph Swensen

Opus 106 ("Hammerklavier"): Richard Goode

Opus 110: Arnold Steinhardt

Opus 31 #2 ("Tempest"): Jan Swafford

contact

Booking Inquiries

Colbert Artists Management
www.colbertartists.com

Lee Prinz
(917) 455-0640
prinz@colbertartists.com

Martha Bonta
(917) 208-4348
bonta@colbertartists.com

Amy Carson-Dwyer
(917) 208-4348
amy@colbertartists.com

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Colbert Artists Management
www.colbertartists.com

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Photo Credits: Juergen Frank
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