Music Department
Interim Director, Orchestra
Artist in Residence (piano)
Fields: Lecturer, piano; orchestra; chamber music
Contact Information
Email: agolka@holycross.edu
Office: Brooks 244
Box: 151A
Biography
Born in Texas to a family of Polish musicians, pianist Adam Golka has won widespread critical and popular acclaim with his “brilliant technique and real emotional depth” (The Washington Post). He has garnered international prizes including the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Award, first prize in the 2003 China Shanghai International Piano Competition and the 2009 Max I. Allen Classical Fellowship Award of the American Pianists Association.
In the United States, Golka has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, including the Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Diego, Fort Worth, Syracuse, Pensacola, Lansing, Knoxville, Ann Arbor, Albany, Omaha, South Dakota, and Grand Rapids symphonies, as well as with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium. Internationally, he has appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, among others.
Golka’s solo performances have taken him to Concertgebouw’s Kleine Zaal, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Musashino Civic Cultural Hall in Tokyo, Mostly Mozart Festival, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Ravinia Festival, New York City International Keyboard Festival at Mannes, Newport Music Festival, and the Duszniki Chopin Festival. His chamber music appearances have included prestigious festivals such as Marlboro, Caramoor, and Music@Menlo.
Adam began piano studies with his mother, pianist Anna Golka, and continued as a teenager with Dariusz Pawlas of Rice University. He holds Artist Diplomas from Texas Christian University and the Peabody Conservatory, where studied with José Feghali and Leon Fleisher, respectively. Adam has continued his development in lessons with Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and András Schiff, at whose invitationAdam will participate in a series of solo recitals in New York, Berlin, and Zurich in the 2014-2015 season.
Also in the 2014-2015 season, Adam will also be performing with Vancouver, San Diego, Richmond, Billings, Evansville, and Brevard symphonies, as well as solo recitals for the Van Cliburn Foundation and at Alice Tully Hall in New York. Adam's début recording, featuring the Sonata Opus 1 of Brahms and the Hammerklavier Sonata of Beethoven, was released in August 2015 by First Hand Records.
Adam Golka is also involved with the Chamber Music Institute at Holy Cross which is offered each summer.