Halina Sembrat

Halina Franciszka Romualda Sembrat (born 14 May 1908 in Cracow, died 15 February 1974 in London) is a Polish pianist and composer.

Younger sister of Kazimierz Sembrata, daughter Romualdy from Suchcitz and Franciszek, the owner of an educational institution for boys - secondary school students in Krakow. She attended the Ursuline Gymnasium and St. Jadwigi in Cracow, where she got her high school diploma in 1925. After that she went to Cracow Conservatory, where she graduated with a gold medal. Her teacher was the pianist Egon Petri. She continued her music studies in Berlin where she studied piano at Artur Schnabel, and at Hugon Leichtentritt she learned the theory and composition.

She performed in her youth (her first performance was in 1924 in Bielsko); In 1927 she gave a concert in E flat major Ferenc Liszt. In 1929 Liszt, Prokofiev and Albéniz played in the Polish Radio in Cracow. In 1932 he won the second prize in the Cracow Radio Competition and one year later - the second prize in the international competition in Vienna. From 1932 to 1939 she performed in Krakow, Krynica, Warsaw, Berlin, Brussels and Oslo. She also played frequently, especially in 1938-1939 in Polish Radio (mostly in Cracow), but she did not participate in Chopin competitions.

During the war she lived in Cracow; From March 1941, she played Liszt, Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven in the "Concerto for Poles" in the General Philharmonic. In 1944 she played charity concerts organized by the Main Guardian Council, and on May 5 this year she performed her own piano composition for the first time.

After the war she lived in Cracow; Apart from the family town, she also performed in Lodz, Katowice and Toruń, in the Polish Radio and in Czechoslovakia (Karlovy Vary and Prague) and in 1946 in Oslo. In the following years she performed less and less (the last concerts she gave in the Polish Radio in Krakow in 1949 and 1950); It was criticized for the manner in which it was played, as well as cooperation with the German occupier during the war (concerts in the GG), and even Berlin's pre-war studies. After several unsuccessful attempts to leave Poland she finally left for England, where she obtained political asylum. She lived in London, where she died in 1974 as a result of her injuries in a fire.

The compositions written by Halina Sembrat were not (apart from Elegy in D minor) never publicly performed and never released. Bibliography

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