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Christina Petrowska Quilico – Pianist

Christina
Petrowska
Quilico

Pianist

An extraordinary talent with
phenomenal ability… dazzling virtuosity

The New York Times

Biography

Christina Petrowska Quilico has won fans internationally for her live performances and 67-plus recordings that range from Mozart and Liszt to the latest 21st century composers.

She was appointed to the Order of Canada “for her celebrated career as a classical and contemporary pianist” and to the Order of Ontario as “a towering virtuoso who interprets works from any compositional aesthetic with world-class execution in seemingly inexhaustible efforts.” Her “astonishing contribution to musical life in Canada”, particularly her teaching and advocacy of Canadian and women composers, earned her the treasured Oskar Morawetz Prize, with the jury asserting, “She is legend.” Inducted into the prestigious Royal Society of Canada, “the country’s highest honor an individual can achieve in the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences.”she was also honored by York University, where she was a professor of piano and musicology since 1987 and is now professor emerita and senior scholar. York bestowed on her its coveted Research Award for four consecutive years, in 2023 making her one of only two Distinguished Honors recipients as “outstanding contributors to their fields and beyond” and in 2024 acknowledging her “Remarkable Artistic and Creative Accomplishments”. CBC Radio named her to its In Concert Hall of Fame and to its list of “Canada’s 25 best pianists” and deemed her iconic album of Ann Southam’s Glass Houses cycle – best-seller on the Centrediscs label – as one of the best 30 Canadian classical recordings ever.

Recitals as well as performances of 55 concertos, with such conductors as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bramwell Tovey, have taken Christina across the U.S. and Canada, to Taiwan, the Middle East, France, England, Germany, and Greece. She has recorded 19 concertos – nine written specifically for her. Four recordings have earned JUNO nominations, and two enjoyed debuts that were truly out of this world – when astronaut Steve MacLean took them on board the Space Shuttles Columbia and Atlantis! Recent recordings have all been Record of the Week on CBC and Vintage Americana was on numerous Best Recordings Lists and won a Global Award.

Biography

Leave[s] a permanent impression
on the listener’s soul”

Sonograma Magazine, Barcelona ,Spain

News

Concert in Hong Kong: Recital of piano solos from The Imagined CD performed by Christina Petrowska Quilico

Concert in Hong Kong: Recital of piano solos from The Imagined CD performed by Christina Petrowska Quilico

October 11, 2026 | Miller Theater, Asia Society Hong Kong Center | Concert in Hong Kong

To mark the conclusion of Singing and Dancing with Brush and Ink: The Art of Wesley Tongson, celebrated Canadian pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico will perform the Hong Kong debut of Canadian-Chinese composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s new album The Imagined, featuring pieces such as Hong Kong NostalgiaA Manic Ride through Lollipop Hell, and Pictures from an Imagined Exhibition –– inspired by Quilico’s paintings and Hong Kong experimental ink painter Wesley Tongson’s deeply resonant and dynamic compositions. Written specifically for Quilico, listed as one of the “25 Best Classical Pianists,” The Imagined translates the visual forms, stories, and resonant emotions of Quilico and Tongson’s work into a musical journey through an elevated landscape that exists only in the artists’ minds. This performance treats the piano not only as an instrument, but a vehicle through which to celebrate the transformative power of creativity, the dialogue between East and West, and the enduring capacity of music to evoke worlds both real and imagined.
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Kindred Spirits Orchestra - Images at an Exhibition

Kindred Spirits Orchestra - Images at an Exhibition

May 6, 2026 | Toronto

Christina Petrowska Quilico, gives the world premiere of a new piano concerto written for her by Alice Ping Yee Ho, inspired by her paintings and those of Wesley Tongson.
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“intelligent program...compelling...challenging repertoire, 
well worth investigating”

Gramophone