A passionate hiker in her beloved Bavarian/Austrian Alps

August 2010. So far the Chopin year has been a thrilling experience for Janina: accolades from the most important music critics around the world for her “Chopin Recital” CD (which even made it into the classical hit parade top 10!) and the reissue of two older Chopin CDs (Etudes, Sonatas and Impromptus), praise for her 35 live concerts (so far) including rave reviews from the most eminent critics especially in London, Munich and Toronto, the production of a new CD (Chopin concertos with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey), interviews and feature articles in major music publications and and and …

Before the new season starts with the premiere of the 1st International Piano Academy held in the foothills of the German Alps in the enchanting castle of the Bavarian Music Academy in Marktoberdorf (close to mad King Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle) Janina is taking a well-deserved break from her travels at her German residence.

Here she is preparing the upcoming season which will include the world premiere of John Burge’s “Prelude Variations” for piano and orchestra based on a theme by Chopin, written for Janina (which she will perform with the Quebec and the Kingston Symphonies Orchestras as well as the Calgary Philharmonic).

Another Chopin highlight will be her debut with Toronto based period instrument group “Tafelmusik” where she will perform the Chopin e minor concerto on a magnificently restored 1848 Pleyel piano. There will be more concerts with various North American orchestras in the US and Canada as well as later in the season her Swiss debut with the legendary Musikkollegium Winterthur as well as her debut with one of Germany’s finest ensembles, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In addition she will produce two new CDs for her beloved and constantly developing ATMA classique label. And, after a 10 year hiatus, she will return to one of her favorite composers, Franz Liszt, whose recently discovered 3rd piano concerto she gave the world premiere with the Chicago Symphony in 1990.

Originally produced in 1997 and 1999, two Chopin CDs, featuring Etudes, Sonatas and Impromptus have been re-released by Janina’s thriving Canadian Label ATMA. Although these CDs received wonderful reviews back then in North America, due to the limited distribution of their original Label they were not widely heard. Now in their rebirth as a 2-CD boxed set they are finally reaching a worldwide audience and receiving the recognition and praise they deserve.

One the world’s most respected piano experts, Bryce Morrison, headlines in the current Gramophone issue: “Fialkowska produces one of the outstanding highlights of Chopin Year” awarding her with one of the magazine’s “Gold Stars”:

"Lesser mortals may well weep with envy at such unfaltering authority and I hesitate even to imagine the hours of work behind such magnificence... Elsewhere she is grand and imperious ... and she has all the four Impromptus’ lighter charm and caprice at her fingertips ... I was filled with admiration for such clarity, strength of purpose and musical integrity ... she offers an unfailing balance of sense and sensibility. Well recorded, she has done her one time mentor, Arthur Rubinstein, proud." (Bryce Morrison, Gramophone, August 2010)