CHRISTINA PETROWSKA QUILICO, C.M., OOnt, FRSC [www.christinapetrowskaquilico.com](http://www.christinapetrowskaquilico.com)

Christina Petrowska Quilico is recognized as one of Canada’s most distinguished pianists, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. She has established herself as a versatile performer, excelling in Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary repertoires, and is renowned for her support of Canadian composers. In 2020, she was appointed to the Order of Canada, acknowledging her illustrious career as a classical and contemporary pianist and her commitment to promoting Canadian music. The following year, she received an appointment to the Order of Ontario for her impactful performances and recordings, her teaching role at York University, and for founding The Christina and Louis Quilico Award at the Ontario Arts Foundation and Canadian Opera Company. In 2021, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, which represents the highest honor achievable in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Sciences within the country. Most recently, in September 2023, she won the Ontario Arts Council's Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance, recognizing her international prominence through performances and recordings.

Among her prior accolades are the Friends of Canadian Music Award from the Canadian Music Centre and Canadian League of Composers, as well as her selection as one of the CMC’s Ambassadors of Canadian Music. The CBC has recognized her as one of “20 Can’t-Miss Classical Pianists” and one of “Canada’s 25 best classical pianists,” also inducting her into its “In Concert Hall of Fame,” which honors the greatest Canadian classical musicians throughout history. At York University, where she served as a faculty member for 35 years, she holds the title of Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar. In recognition of her significant contributions, she was awarded the university’s prestigious Research Awards for four years and received Distinguished Honours in 2023.

Petrowska Quilico's discography exceeds 50 CDs, featuring 19 concertos and a range of solo and chamber works by both contemporary and international composers, with a particular emphasis on works by women, including Canada's Ann Southam. She has recorded Southam's music on five albums with Centrediscs, which include eight discs. Four of her CDs have received nominations for JUNO Awards—three for concerto recordings and one for Southam’s cycle Glass Houses Revisited, which is Centrediscs’ best-selling album and was recognized by CBC Music as one of the “30 best Canadian classical recordings ever.”

During the years of the pandemic, Petrowska Quilico continued to gain recognition as a musician praised for her "commanding pianism" (American Record Guide) and her ability to leave a lasting impact on listeners (Sonograma Magazine, Barcelona). Her three solo albums released on Navona garnered enthusiastic reviews, with Vintage Americana appearing on several best-of lists for 2021 in Canada and internationally. She was featured on Parisa Sabet’s A Cup of Sins (Redshift Records) and Alice Ping Yee Ho’s solo piano album Blaze, which was released in spring 2023 on Centrediscs. Additionally, her album Shadow & Light includes three double concertos composed by Ho and fellow Canadians Larysa Kuzmenko and Christos Hatzis, recorded alongside violinist Marc Djokic and Sinfonia Toronto under the direction of Nurhan Arman. In March 2023, she premiered the Florence Price Piano Concerto in the Toronto area, collaborating with the York Chamber Ensemble and conductor Michael Berec. On October 21, she is set to perform the Piano Concerto by Polish composer Witold Lutosławski, celebrating his 110th anniversary, at the Kindred Spirits Orchestra’s gala season opener. Her latest recordings feature the premiere of Nocturnes by David Jaeger, inspired by her own poetry, and More Rivers, a solo piano suite composed for her by Frank Horvat, funded by a $30,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. A complete collection of Sonatas and Variations for Piano and Violin will be released in 2025, featuring Jacques Israelievitch, former concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony.

Petrowska Quilico began her orchestral career at the age of 10, performing the Haydn D major concerto with Toronto’s Conservatory Orchestra. She received a scholarship to study at New York’s Juilliard School under the acclaimed Rosina Lhévinne. At 14, she co-won a concerto prize alongside pianist Murray Perahia, drawing praise from the New York Times, which described her as “a promethean talent.” She continued to perform in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall, where she garnered acclaim for her “extraordinary talent” and “dazzling virtuosity,” particularly in her performances of Olivier Messiaen. Her studies also took her to the Sorbonne in Paris, and she worked with notable composers including Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti in Darmstadt and Berlin. Pierre Boulez personally coached her in two of his sonatas, which can be found on her 2021 album Sound Visionaries. Throughout her career, she has performed over 53 concertos—from Bach and Haydn to contemporary composers—collaborating with orchestras across Canada, the United States, Greece, and Taipei, as well as undertaking recitals in England, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.