“INFINITY” is an album on which Polish pianist Adam Kośmieja shows his individual take on a legendary minimal music masterpiece: “Canto Ostinato” (1976) written by a Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012). Holt wrote music of trance, meditation, and at the same time, filled with very strong emotions, which built culminations based on repetitive musical structures. Its repetitiveness, motoricity and spaciousness go far beyond the realm of a classical piano music performance.
“My vision of Canto Ostinato is very coherent” – Adam says. “Through this musical journey, the listener will experience a lot of sensations – from meditative, flowing and relaxing sounds, through bursts of emotion with romantic harmonies and stability, together with occasional spicy accents and irregular rhythmic energy (which is almost reminiscent of a piece bordering techno at the core of the whole piece), a beautiful melody that reveals itself after a very long time and, repeated, sinks deep into the listener’s memory, to be remembered long after its end.”
“The key component of INFINITY is freedom, which refers not only to the individual but also to space and its immensity, which cannot be defined or limited in any way. This aspect drives and fascinates me immensely! Freedom in the micro dimension: single repeated cells that live their lives inside and within the cell, the number of repetitions of these micro organisms, and freedom in the macro dimension: how these small cells – like quanta – build the big image and scale, which I create through my musical choices, emotions, vision of a broader horizon and, finally, the dramaturgy and narration of the entire work. I feel this music very spatially, almost cosmically, and for many months I worked on a satisfying a formal grid and navigational map of the piece. The entire musical journey on my album lasts about 45 minutes (plus 2 singles: “Human” and “Algorithm”) and is divided into 6 parts, or ‘phases’. I gave them each my own programmatic titles that refer to the overall concept of the album: the infinite horizon, physicality of sound, time, mechanics.
“INFINITY” is a version of Canto Ostinato for solo piano, enhanced by the Dolby Atmos system which, by using a huge number of microphones, reproduce the sound of the entire concert hall, allowing the artist to model particular tracks and fragments of the piece in selected places around the listener. One feels completely surrounded by and immersed in sound. This is another element of shaping and modelling the sound space, where I want to find a bridge between music and physics.
My adventure with Canto Ostinato began with the performance in Warsaw (2021), where together with leading Polish musicians and friends we immersed ourselves in this musical ritual at a concert at Teatr Nowy. We created a version for piano, synthesizer, marimba, vibraphone, clarinet and cello. Already then, I felt the need to enter this musical world for a longer time and on a deeper level. I wanted to completely immerse myself in this vast score. Another adventure took place a year later (2022) at a concert in Sinfonia Varsovia with the addition of harp to our instrumentation. After the second performance, I already had the outline of “my” version of Canto in my head and I just knew I had to pursue it with my purist version for solo piano, enhanced and multiplied using an immersive spatial audio system.
Playing with friends and practicing chamber music is probably the most rewarding way of making music, but I wanted to decide for myself every single detail, every phrase and, through almost complete freedom, become and be re-born within this score as the creator of my own “Canto Ostinato”. This ability is strongly connected with my experience as a contemporary music pianist who is being trusted by leading composers to premiere their works eg.: Pierre Jodlowski, Francesco Filidei, Agata Zubel, Stefan Weglowski, Ye Xiaogang, Phil Cashian, Joe Cutler, Jerzy Kornowicz, Elzbieta Sikora, Philippe Manoury.
Adam Kośmieja gained reputation as one of the most innovative and sought after Polish pianist. Called a musical chameleon, he easily and successfully performs both the classical repertoire and the broadly understood new music with the use of multimedia and electronics. 2023 season highlights include: Chinese recital tour (Shandong Grand Theater, Shanghai Poly City Theater, Guotai Arts Center, Beijing National Library Concert Hall, Chengde Grand Theater), Norwegian premiere of Agata Zubel’s Chamber Piano Concerto at GriegHallen in Bergen, artistic residency with Adam’s trio Flow Unit 3 at The Royal Academy of Music in London and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Adam is a signed Warner Music Artist. His discography perfectly reflects his wide spectrum of artistic inspirations f.e.: adventure with classicizing jazz – Tribute to Gulda (Warner Classics), complex contemporary piano concerto by Elżbieta Sikora (Sinfonia Varsovia under Bassem Akiki (ANAKLASIS)), electroacoustic journeys with electronics and piano solo with Stefan Węgłowski (KAIROS). Adam gives concerts extensively in Poland and abroad, which has led him to concert halls in almost 20 countries in North America, Europe and Asia, including: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Shenzhen Concert Hall in China, Warsaw Philharmonic, National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Great Amber Hall in Latvia and many more. He performed under the baton of, among others: Jacek Kaspszyk, Muhai Tang, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Eiji Oue, Alexander Liebreich, José Maria Florêncio, Michal Klauza, Bassem Akiki, Szymon Bywalec, Wojciech Michniewski, Pawel Kapula, Tiberiu Soare, Jakub Chrenowicz. Recently Adam made his debut in Latvia performing with Kremerata Baltica – one of the world’s leading chamber orchestra’s founded and led by Gidon Kremer – celebrating their 25th anniversary.
As an ambassador of new music, Adam enjoys great popularity among leading contemporary composers. Premieres and commissions came from among others: Pierre Jodlowski, Francesco Filidei, Agata Zubel, Stefan Weglowski, Ye Xiaogang, Phil Cashian, Joe Cutler, Jerzy Kornowicz, Elzbieta Sikora, Philippe Manoury. Adam deeply explores the contemporary music world with his trio Flow unit 3 (Anna Kwiatkowska-violin, Mikolaj Palosz-cello). His studies were with Ludmila Kasyanenko, Jerzy Sulikowski, Solomon Mikowsky and Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron. Adam is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music and The Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz – Poland, where he is currently a Piano Faculty member.
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