Questions of Time: Pianist Klaudia Kudełko on Her Debut Album, Finding Inspiration in Fashion, and Her Mission to Make Musical Introductions
Klaudia Kudełko. Credit: Olya Helga.
When most musicians join me to record the Classical Post podcast, they need a few minutes to settle in. This makes sense — whether they're an instrumentalist, singer, or composer, they're used to communicating through a medium outside of their speaking voice. So it can take some time to shake off the nerves.
But the moment I sat down with pianist Klaudia Kudelko to discuss her stunning debut album, Time, she was fired up and ready to dive into her personal artistic mission: to connect people with classical music.
"It's made such a huge impact on my life, and I would love to share it with more and more people," Kudełko shares at the top of the podcast's latest episode. "Even if they don't know classical music but they're open to it — I'm very happy to introduce them."
In many ways, that desire to connect and make introductions positions Los Angeles as the perfect home for this emerging star of the piano world. It's a cultural powerhouse of a city that thrives on networking and knowing the right people. But Kudełko doesn't want to just introduce people to the likes of Schubert, Chopin, and Grazyna Bacewicz — the three composers she performs on Time — she wants to show people how relevant their music is to the lives we lead today.
Take Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude, which Kudełko recorded as a dramatic music video that's received more than 514,000 views since its release on May 31. Written in 1831 after the bombing of Warsaw by Russian military forces, the blisteringly intense work held many parallels to the conflict in Ukraine when Kudełko filmed the video weeks after the invasion began.
"I felt like it was very important to release that and record it in that moment. Given the circumstances of the new times, we can really interpret it in a relevant way — in this case, very painfully relevant. Even though it's a very popular piece, it still means a lot."
In this discussion, Kudełko and I talk more about the creation of her debut album, the ways ballet and fashion inspire her work, and how yoga has helped her overcome post-performance insomnia. Plus, she shares her favorite spot in Beverly Hills for truffle ravioli and the Tom Ford perfume that can immediately transport her to Italy's Amalfi Coast.
Listen to Time wherever you stream or download music.
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