Baczyńska-Kissas, Dagny

Pianist, composer, music theorist and dancer. She graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in the piano class of Bronisława Kawalla (2004) as well as music theory dept. (2005) and took postgraduate piano studies with Andrzej Stefański (2006). Her repertoire includes works from baroque to modern music; she specialises in the works of Chopin and modern composers including Witold Rudziński, Rafał Stradomski, Georgios Kissas, and Jarosław Siwiński as well as her own compositions.

Her solo recordings have received several awards. As an accompanist, she has recorded songs to Polish poetry with Bogna Lewtak-Baczyńska.

She has participated in numerous piano competitions including the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw (2005 and 2010) and the Ferenc Liszt International Piano Competition in Wrocław (2008), as well as national Chopin competitions. She has attended piano masterclasses run notably by Kevin Kenner, Victor Merzhanov, Karol Radziwonowicz, Bronisława Kawalla, Tomasz Herbut, Janusz Olejniczak, Tadeusz Chmielewski, and Rafał Augustyn.

She composes primarily piano works, inspired by philosophy, history, and religion: polonaises, nocturnes, preludes, suites, and cycles such as Visions, Prayers, and Hussars. She also performs as a dancer; she has participated in dancing competitions and has appeared in her own solo choreographies in the play Zakochanie (music by Bogna Lewtak-Baczyńska, 2015) and The Night on the Small Lake (music by Georgios Kissas, within Maja Baczyńska’s play Dziwnotwory, 2008).

Dagny Baczyńska-Kissas also researches the relationship between piano and ballet performance. She has written theoretical articles, participated in music and visual arts conferences, and published solo piano recordings.