Album Notes

Accordion virtuoso, Lidia Kaminska, thrills and delights audiences with her energetic and captivating performances. Throughout the United States and Europe, her chamber music, concerto and solo performances explore the complex and expressive range of the accordion as an instrument of classical music. As a versatile classical accordion player, Ms. Kaminska is a definite rarity in today's music scene.

Ms. Kaminska began playing the accordion at the age of seven. At the age of eleven she was competing in international competitions in Bulgaria and Germany, and by twelve she was giving solo performances in Holland, Austria, and Germany, as well as her native Poland. After receiving her Masters degree from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland, she came to the U.S. in the year of 1999 to study at the University of Missouri Kansas City. At the age of 25 she became the first (and only) person in the United States to ever receive a Doctorate in Accordion Performance.

The seven-time winner of national and international competitions and recipient of numerous additional awards and honors, Ms. Kaminska recently took First Prize in the Accordion Teachers Guild International Competition, Orlando, Fl, and Special Prize in New York City’s International Tango Music Competition with the Argentine ensemble Tango Lorca.

Possessing a special interest in new music, Ms. Kaminska premiered new works by Julia Alford Fowler, Paul Rudy, and performed at the World Premiere of the BalletX. She has appeared with the contemporary music ensembles the New Ear and the Musica Nova. She has also collaborated with dancer and choreographer Jorge Laico for the Kansas City Ballet’s “In the Wings”, and with Mathew Neenan for Philadelphia’ BalletX. She was featured as a soloist with the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, the Strings of Lodz, The Concord Chamber Orchestra, the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra.
Recently Ms. Kaminska conceived her first album, “Breaking Boundaries,” as a part of her mission to change the perception of the accordion from parlor entertainment to serious classical instrument.



NEW EAR GIVES HUMBLE ACCORDION THE RESPECT IT IS DUE... fascinating artistry of accordionist Lidia Kaminska...
...whole spectrum of amazing virtuosity...
Paul Horsley, Kansas City Star

Her play is creative, full of emotion and the great feeling of style. One could like accordion or not, but one has to accept her interpretation precise in every sense of the word.
Prof. Wlodzimierz Lech Puchnowski, dr ph.m.
The Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland

ACCORDION TO THE CROWD, CONCERT ASTONISHED SYMPHONIC FOLLOWERS. Concert-goers were amazed by Kaminska's talent, particularly the speed and the skill...
Arkansas Democrat - Gazette

Behind perfect technique, musicianship, and presentation ... Lidia Kaminska has in her a great power that influences the audience immensely.
Prof. Bogdan Dowlasz,
Dean of the Lodz Academy of Music, Poland