Praised by Boston Musical Intelligencer for “their impressive lyrical talents (that) provided a kind of magic”, Lysakowski and Hartka felt a profound sense connection and musical compatibility from the very beginning of their collaboration, and so aptly named themselves Duo Déjà vu. The name also acknowledges those powerful moments of recognition and resonance that we experience when performance taps into something universal and great works transcend time.

The Duo has explored authentic interpretations of Belle Époque French music at the Frederick Historical Piano Collection Concert Series informed by period instruments such as Erard and Bluthner pianos. They recorded the Debussy Sonata and music by Ravel and Piazzolla in 2017 in their album Colors Couleurs Colores Cores (Becsta records), and where praised for playing that “displays a high degree of heart and total control” (Michael Johnson).

The duo pushes the boundary of performance in their 2020 video recording of the Frank Bridge Sonata written during the First World War. They include images of the war and the Spanish Flu pandemic as well as roses on their instruments as a statement of compassion for the lives lost during COVID. The video also helped raise funds for the Schagticoke First Nations Land Reclamation Project, as an acknowledgement of the harm Hartka’s ancestor, a revolutionary war soldier, caused to this population. These reparations where a response to the calls for racial healing, bringing musical compassion to all touched by colonization, including an understanding of the cycles of war and trauma in Europe that drove settlers to flee from their homeland. See video below.

The duo has given recitals since 2011 in venues throughout New England including Bass Hall Concerts; the French Cultural Center of Boston; the Dweck Center, among others.

The duo is joined by Lijiong Liao to form Kalos Trio

Multiple award winning violinist Lijiong Liao has performed and taught in both America and China for more than two decades. Currently a studio teacher and international performer Ms. Liao performed recently with the Asian Festival Performance and Malden TV and was a member of the Miami New World Symphony Orchestra in 2004. She has performed as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra after winning the Tanglewood Festival competition in 2004. Additionally, she was awarded the second prize of the Boston Youth All Instruments Competition in 2003; the first prize of the all-instrument competition of Iowa University under the instruction of Mr. Leopold Lafosse in 2001; and the first Prize of Boston University Bach competition both in 2005 and 2003.

A devoted teacher, Ms. Liao’s students have won the first and second prizes in New York International All Instruments Competition and are regular members of the New England Conservatory Youth Orchestra, the Boston University Youth Orchestra and the junior and senior district orchestras.

Ms. Liao earned both a Master of Music and a Performance Diploma with full scholarship from Boston University, where she studied with Mrs. Dana Mazurkevich. Mrs Mazurkevich is considered one of the most renowned students of the famous master violinist David Oistrakh.