|
At the Lincoln Center during the 2010
United Nations MDGs Summit in New York City.... Crying Her Song...
|
|
Born in Poland and living in Ottawa, Canada, Maria Knapik is the youngest of a musical family of eight daughters. After a childhood of performing with her sisters, Maria became an award-winning soprano who frequently appears as a soloist with major orchestras and opera companies throughout North America and Europe.
Impressed with NIGH's commitment to increasing public awareness, Maria joined NIGH's Advisory Board. In October 2012, Maria collaborated — to launch the ‘Daring, Caring & Sharing to Save Mothers’ Lives’ global campaign and — in September 2010 — also with the Conference of NGOs in Consultation with the UN (CoNGO) — she worked with NIGH to stage a concert at the New York City Lincoln Center Kaplan Penthouse. Together, we raised awareness about maternal and child health among UN delegates on the eve of the United Nations MDGs Summit. Click here >> to see more about this |
|
Concert. Above, this video features Maria's artistry as she sings 'Vissi d'arte' from Tosca by Pucinni. During her introduction to this aria, Maria cried as she shared this aria's meaning by dedicating her performance....
|
”to all of the women who are facing injustice... to have strength... and wishing for all of us... if we could have any power to make a difference for all this injustice.... and if we could help those women and those children — who are now dying — that we would have the strength and energy to do something."
|
Maria has been a featured soloist many times at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, at Carnegie Hall, at the Washington Kennedy Centre and as a special guest artist at the Annual Puccini Foundation Concert at Alice Tully Hall in New York’s Lincoln Centre, In Warsaw, she has performed with the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Symphony Orchestras of Krakow.
Over the years, Maria has received numerous awards — most recently, in 2011 — the American Institute of Polish Culture awarded Maria the Gold Medal of Honour for her ongoing national and international efforts to promote Polish arts and culture, an honour she shares with the celebrated Polish leader, Lech Walesa. In September 2011, she received the honourary title of Artist-in-Residence from New York’s Altamura Centre for Arts and Cultures, for her high level of achievement as an artist and a person. No one else has received this award. This title is carried by her exclusively. And in October of the same year, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage awarded Maria its silver medal — Distinguished Culture / Gloria Artis — for her outstanding artistic achievements and promotion of Polish culture in Canada.
Throughout her career, Maria has also followed her celebrated singing family’s tradition of giving volunteer concerts for humanitarian causes. She has organized concerts for senior citizens' homes and fundraising concerts whenever there’s a need – after the tsunami in Honduras, the earthquake in Haiti, or the catastrophe in Somalia. One of her Ottawa concerts recently raised money for the Food First program in the Canadian Northwest Territories. Maria is passionate about maternal health care and uses her acclaimed artistry—with deep emotion—to focus the public mind on preventing maternal death.
Over the years, Maria has received numerous awards — most recently, in 2011 — the American Institute of Polish Culture awarded Maria the Gold Medal of Honour for her ongoing national and international efforts to promote Polish arts and culture, an honour she shares with the celebrated Polish leader, Lech Walesa. In September 2011, she received the honourary title of Artist-in-Residence from New York’s Altamura Centre for Arts and Cultures, for her high level of achievement as an artist and a person. No one else has received this award. This title is carried by her exclusively. And in October of the same year, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage awarded Maria its silver medal — Distinguished Culture / Gloria Artis — for her outstanding artistic achievements and promotion of Polish culture in Canada.
Throughout her career, Maria has also followed her celebrated singing family’s tradition of giving volunteer concerts for humanitarian causes. She has organized concerts for senior citizens' homes and fundraising concerts whenever there’s a need – after the tsunami in Honduras, the earthquake in Haiti, or the catastrophe in Somalia. One of her Ottawa concerts recently raised money for the Food First program in the Canadian Northwest Territories. Maria is passionate about maternal health care and uses her acclaimed artistry—with deep emotion—to focus the public mind on preventing maternal death.
|
A career highlight has been, in 2005, Maria's American debut of the title role in the Moniuszko's opera 'Halka' with Opera Sarasota — under the auspices of the American Professional Opera House — and received to great acclaim.
Posted here on the right, Maria poignantly renders Halka’s aria — 'Lullaby to a Dying Child' in her native Polish — as the music track for this video. With Maria's voice of tears — and with photos from |
|
settings across the world — this video became a prototype for NIGH's online introduction of the 'Daring, Caring & Sharing' campaign — to increase worldwide concern for and commitment to maternal health.
The above photo and videos are posted from NIGH's archives. Accompanying Maria in both videos is the acclaimed Montreal conductor and pianist Michel Brousseau.