Zuzana Simurdova

BIO/DESCRIPTION

Zuzana Šimurdová [pron. Zuzana Schimurdova], is a Canadian Pianist of Czech Origin – based in Edmonton. She gave solo and chamber concerts across Europe, the US, Canada, China, Russia and South Korea. Zuzana made her first radio appearance at the age of 9, after winning 4 prizes at the Young Composers Competition in Ostrava in her native Czech Republic.

She began her international career as a laureate of the UNESCO Awards in Paris for her interpretation of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by First prize at the International Music Competition in London and the Janáček First Prize at the International Piano Masterclasses Competition ‘Prague-Vienna-Budapest’. Šimurdová is fascinated by classical and contemporary music, having premiered numerous Canadian and European works.

Together with her husband, pianist Mikolaj Warszynski, she gave the Canadian premiere of Claude Vivier’s Désintégration, as well as a series of premieres of contemporary music for two pianos, for which they received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Her CD’s were published for NAXOS Grand Piano and for PGMaudio.

Her new CD, Vertical Landscapes, is a manifest example of Zuzana’s sophisticated yet inclusive approach to the music she plays. Without favouring any particular style and technique, she simply focuses on the works, that appeal to her regardless of their origin and pedigree. They may come from younger and lesser-known composers, or, on the contrary, from the composers who already have left indelible mark on today’s music. Vertical Landscapes offers a fascinating review of Canadian piano music composed within four decades from the 1980s (Alexina Louie’s Music for Piano) to the 2020s (the most recent piece in the collection being Terri Hron’s Memories of Trees). The CD is titled after the two-movement cycle by the distinguished composer and pedagogue, Joan Hansen (1941-2021). The other works appearing on the CD are by Maria Thompson Corley, Christine Donkin, Kristin Flores, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Melissa Hui, Linda Caitlin Smith, Ana Sokolović, and Karen Sunabacka.