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Displaying exceptional musical precocity, the young pianist Maria Szymanowska proved a sensation in Warsaw's salons, before moving to Paris where her fame spread. Greatly admired by her contemporaries, who included Beethoven, Cherubini, Field and Tamasek, she later also cast a spell over the elderly Goethe during one of her many long European tours. Alexander Kostritsa received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is a prizewinner of international piano competitions, including the Premio Rovere d'Oro, the Slavic Music Festival and the Paul Badura-Skoda.