About Us…
Laura Kafka-Price, PhD, is an American soprano, musicologist, and educator of Polish heritage. She is a first-place winner of the American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) Marcella Kochanska Sembrich vocal competition. In 2021, she was awarded the ACPC Cultural Achievement Award for her “dedication to promote Polish music as a performer, scholar, and educator, and to make the language of Polish songs more accessible to performers and audiences.” Kafka-Price currently serves as a lecturer in Polish lyric diction at The Peabody Conservatory of Music of The Johns Hopkins University. She has taught music and foreign languages at Georgetown University and Shippensburg University. As an active recitalist, she has sung in Polish throughout her career. She continues to actively promote Polish language and music among English-speaking singers with her colleague and co-presenter, Maksymilian Krzak. Their book, Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers, was published by Oxford University Press in 2025. Kafka-Price recorded Karol Szymanowski’s Rymy dziecięce, op. 49 for voice and piano with Tomasz Robak Released by Centaur Records, Inc. in 2025, the recordings are available on all streaming platforms.
Trained as a violist and singer in the United States and Europe, Maksymilian Krzak, MM, works as a violist and music educator throughout the country. He maintains an active performance schedule as an orchestral and chamber musician in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and is also a teaching artist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids program. Krzak earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in his native Poland, and a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. During his graduate studies he won a one-year scholarship at the historic University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Outside of performing and teaching, Maksymilian Krzak actively promotes Polish language and music among English-speaking singers with his colleague, Dr. Laura Kafka-Price. They coach singers and voice teachers in Polish lyric diction. Their book, Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers, was published by Oxford University Press.
Tomasz Robak is a versatile keyboard artist active as a solo pianist, chamber musician, vocal coach, and organist. He has performed across the U.S. and Europe, with recent appearances including chamber concerts with the Luna Nova Ensemble, orchestral performances with the Charlotte Symphony, and collaborations with Charlotte-area musicians. A Fulbright grantee to Poland, he holds degrees from Rice University and the Peabody Conservatory, and currently serves as Associate Professor of Practice in Music at Davidson College and organist at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
Dr. Robak is the voice heard reciting Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna’s poems, as well as the verbal warm-up exercises, and intoning Karol Szymanowski’s Rymy dziecięce op. 49 song cycle for Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers. He is also the pianist who recorded the songs with Laura Kafka-Price.
Laura Kafka-Price, PhD, is an American soprano, musicologist, and educator of Polish heritage. She is a first-place winner of the American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) Marcella Kochanska Sembrich vocal competition. In 2021, she was awarded the ACPC Cultural Achievement Award for her “dedication to promote Polish music as a performer, scholar, and educator, and to make the language of Polish songs more accessible to performers and audiences.” Kafka-Price currently serves as a lecturer in Polish lyric diction at The Peabody Conservatory of Music of The Johns Hopkins University. She has taught music and foreign languages at Georgetown University and Shippensburg University. As an active recitalist, she has sung in Polish throughout her career. She continues to actively promote Polish language and music among English-speaking singers with her colleague and co-presenter, Maksymilian Krzak. Their book, Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers, was published by Oxford University Press in 2025. Kafka-Price recorded Karol Szymanowski’s Rymy dziecięce, op. 49 for voice and piano with Tomasz Robak Released by Centaur Records, Inc. in 2025, the recordings are available on all streaming platforms.
Maksymilian Krzak is a violist who earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in his hometown of Gdańsk, Poland and he is also a graduate of The Peabody Conservatory, where he received a second master’s degree. He is a recipient of a scholarship from The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York.
Mr. Krzak, having also studied voice performance in Poland, is co-author of the introductory chapter on Polish pronunciation, general editor and advisor for the IPA transcriptions, word-by-word translations, and Polish lyric diction pronunciation coach for Kafka-Price’s publications: Szklana góra (Glass Mountain) for Soprano and Piano: Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers and Karol Szymanowski, Rymy dziecięce op. 49 for Voice and Piano: Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers.
Tomasz Robak is a versatile keyboard artist active as a solo pianist, chamber musician, vocal coach, and organist. He has performed across the U.S. and Europe, with recent appearances including chamber concerts with the Luna Nova Ensemble, orchestral performances with the Charlotte Symphony, and collaborations with Charlotte-area musicians. A Fulbright grantee to Poland, he holds degrees from Rice University and the Peabody Conservatory, and currently serves as Associate Professor of Practice in Music at Davidson College and organist at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
Dr. Robak is the voice heard reciting Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna’s poems, as well as the verbal warm-up exercises, and intoning Karol Szymanowski’s Rymy dziecięce op. 49 song cycle for Polish Pronunciation Guide for Singers. He is also the pianist who recorded the songs with Laura Kafka-Price.