Maria Taxidou
Katarzyna Neugebauer
Maria Taxidou
soprano
The Greek soprano Maria Taxidou was born in Kazakhstan. From 2006-2012 she studied musicology and music education at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki (Greece). At the same time, she began her vocal studies at the Thessaloniki State Conservatory in 2007.
2014-2016 she studied master's opera at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart with Prof. Turid Karlsen and Frédérique Friess. During her studies at the Wilhelma Theater Stuttgart she could be seen as Micaela in Bizet's Carmen and as Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Immediately after completing her master's degree, she made her debut at the Daegu Opera House in South Korea as Despina in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte.
Maria is the winner of the 25th Greek National Music Competition and a scholarship from the Society of Friends of the State University for Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.
She is also in great demand as a concert and lied singer. She could already be heard in Thessaloniki as part of a symposium on music and politics with various songs by Arthur Lourié. Since 2017 she has performed as a member of the Meret Trio ensemble, with song and opera programs.
Katarzyna Neugebauer
pianist
The pianist, who was born in Poznan, graduated from the state music school with distinction. Winner of national piano competitions (Goleniów 1992, Warsaw 1994). For over a decade she has been connected to the Wroclaw music scene, in the city where she graduated from the Music Academy in 2007. As a soloist she had the opportunity to play with Jacek Kaspszyk, Antoni Wit and Adam Klocki accompanied by the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra and to perform in Poznań and Kalisz. During her studies she began to focus her musical interests on chamber music. The collaboration with the violinist Bartosz Bokun led to the release of their first CD in this field (Duo4U, 2009, JB Records). The artist's area of interest is contemporary music. She has many world premieres by composers such as Katarzyna Brochocka, Katarzyna Dziewiatkowska, Adam Porębski and she has appeared in festivals such as Eurosilesia, Gwiazda Promuje or Musik unter Zeit in Münster. In 2010 the Pianiisnt started working with the Philharmonic Choir of Wroclaw (today NFM Choir) as an accompanist and educator, which continues to this day. This collaboration led to a joint recording of the album with the legendary Bob Chilcott (Seed of Stars, Signu, Classic, 2012). Since 2010 she has been working with the Wratislavia Cantans Festival, where she had the opportunity to work with conductors such as Paul McCreesh, Giovanni Antonini, Giancarlo Guerrero, Bass Akiki and Jacek Kaspszyk.
​
The pianist is regularly invited to collaborate in national and international singing competitions and master classes in Poland and abroad, where she has worked with Rockwell Black, Kałudi Kałudow, Robert Nakoneczny, Eamon Dougan, Nicolas Mulroy, Linus Roth and Ingeborg Danz, among others. She gives concerts in Poland and abroad with soloists such as Iwona Sobotka, Kałudi Kałudow, Joanna Klisowska, Ewa Płonka, Tomasz Raff and Karina Skrzeszewska. She had the opportunity to take part in the production of the opera "King Roger" (Szymanowski) under the direction of Jacek Kaspszyk with Mariusz Kwiecień in the title role. From 2012-2015 she was a soloist at the Wroclaw Opera, where she was able to work on around 15 opera productions. In 2017 she took part in the recording of the album "Moniuszko differently sung" with the Leopoldinum Orchestra and the Choir Academy under the direction of Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny. In 2014, together with the cellist Urszula Kopijkowska, they founded a duo that is also very active and gives concerts in Poland and abroad, including at the NOSPR in Katowice. The pianist was invited to take up doctoral theses in which she performed Weinberg's cello sonatas, song cycles by Schubert, Williams, Jan Joachim Czech and Karol Szymanowski. Since 2007 he has been working as a companion at the Music Academy in Wroclaw.
