Duo Karolina & Iwo Will Perform Violin and Accordion Concert at Cold Spring Harbor

Concerts by the Pond will continue its 13th season on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 PM with Duo Karolina & Iwo, the Polish violin-and-accordion duo of Karolina Mikołajczyk and Iwo Jedynecki, at St. John's Episcopal Church in Cold Spring Harbor.

Titled “An Afternoon in a European Café,” the concert invites Long Island audiences into a musical world that feels at once intimate, adventurous and immediately familiar. Violin and classical accordion may be an unexpected pairing, but in the hands of Karolina and Iwo, the combination becomes a remarkably flexible chamber ensemble—capable of intimacy, color, rhythmic energy and orchestral sweep.

The program travels across countries, styles and centuries, with music by Frédéric Chopin, Józef Elsner, Aleksander Tansman, Antonio Vivaldi, Astor Piazzolla, Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel. Highlights include Chopin's beloved Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2, Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre and Ravel's fiery Tzigane, alongside music connecting the duo to their Polish musical roots.

Rather than approaching familiar classical music as museum pieces, Karolina and Iwo use the unusual combination of violin and accordion to let audiences hear it differently. Jedynecki's arrangements and the duo's distinctive instrumentation give familiar works new colors while opening a door to music that may be less familiar to American audiences.

The duo has built an international career around exactly that idea: breaking expectations about what violin and accordion can do together. Their work has taken them to audiences around the world, and in Poland they have been recognized with the prestigious Polityka Passport in Classical Music for their versatility, virtuosity and imaginative approach to repertoire.