On May 12, music lovers could listen to the pieces by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Mieczysław Weiniberg, performed by the world renown pianist, Elena Braslavsky and the Kraków quartet Cordes Classiques. The concert was hosted by the Center for Jewish Culture, whose director, Dr Joachim Russek welcomed the guests and presented the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Wojciech Nowak with a memorial badge to mark the 20th anniversary of the Center's foundation. In his address, he referred to the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University, "We are very pleased that we can contribute to the celebration of this grand occasion", said the director.   

Elena Braslavsky was born in Moscow. She studied at the Gnesin School of Music and later, after emigrating to the United States, she received her PhD degree at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Awarded with a Fulbright and DAAD scholarships, she also studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and at the European Mozart Academy in Prague under the supervision of Sandor Vegh. She has given concerts in renown concert halls of North and South America, Europe, Japan and Korea, where she performed alongside such artists as Steven Isserlis, Nibuko Imai and Mstislav Rostropovich. She was a tutor in the Juilliard School of Music and the Mannes College in New York, and currently teaches at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

The Cordes Classiques Quartet is composed of Kraków chamber musicians working closely with the Orchestra Sinfonietta Cracovia. The main field of interest of the group is the music of classical masters: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, whose works helped to crystallise the form of the string quartet and paved the way for the development of chamber music.

The Cordes Classiques Quartet, though rooted in classic beauty and elegance, also performs romantic and contemporary music. In addition, the extensive repertoire of the group includes "salon music" of the Strausses and Kreissler as well as transcriptions of dance and film music.

The Quartet has performed at many successful concerts and is widely appreciated by the audience.

The Monday concert was the last of the main musical and artistic events celebrating the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Photos by Wojciech Karliński