Szraiber has enjoyed a distinguished career as both performer and teacher. After graduating with highest honors from the Music Academy in Poland, she continued piano studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under the guidance of Tatiana Nikolayewa. Specializing in the music of Chopin and Debussy, Maria Szraiber performs regularly throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, China, South Korea and Australia, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician.

As professor of piano at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Maria Szraiber annually attracts an international class of piano students to her studio.

Currently, she is a professor of the Piano, Harpsichord and Organ Department at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.

Her concert program will include mazurkas, scherzos and ballads.

Sponsored by the Shanghai Music Hall, this is the second concert dedicated to Chopin this year, the Polish piano poet. The first one was held on March 10 to critical acclaim.

According to Miao Luming, director of the Shanghai Music Hall, a total of 12 concerts especially reserved for Chopin are to be held this year. "There are many kids in Shanghai who are currently studying piano," said Miao, "and most of them learn Chopin's works."

Over the past years, the Shanghai Music Hall has felt great challenges and pressures from the Shanghai Grand Theatre, which is located near the music hall. Staging a series of concerts is a good way to compete with the theatre, according to Miao.

The March 10 concert was a great success with 90 percent of the seats sold. At the concert, in addition to the piano performances, Andrzej Dutkiewicz, director of the Piano, Harpsichord and Organ Department of the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, also gave a 40-minute lecture to the audience on "Chopin and Polish Music."

(China Daily 03/19/2001)