Lecturers

Magdalena Kordylasińska-Pękala is a marimba and percussion player specializing in the performance of chamber and solo music of the 20th        and 21st centuries. Winner of the Polityka Passport and other prestigious awards and scholarships, she collaborates with Miłosz Pękala, with whom she forms the percussion duo PękalaIKordylasińskaIPękala, as well              as the Chain Ensemble of new music led by the outstanding cellist Andrzej Bauer. She cooperate also with Hashtag Ensemble.

Magdalena also co-creates the Kwadrofonik quartet (two pianos, two percussions), with which she gives concerts all over the world (Poland, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Israel, Japan), performing pieces of the 20th        and 21st centuries, and the quartet’s own compositions – arrangements          of Polish melodies and folk songs – Folklove, Folk Requiem, Baczyński. Astronomia poety. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has participated    in many festivals and concerts in the country and abroad, incl. Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum, Donaueschingenmusiktage, Klang Festival Kopenhagen, Hearing Warsaw, Music Design Form Szczecin.

The marimbist also conducts teaching activities. For many years she has been a teacher at ZPSM No. 4 im. Karol Szymanowski in Warsaw and since 2018 she works also as an assistant professor in the percussion class of the Academy of Art in Szczecin. As a teacher and concert musician, she is invited to present percussion courses and workshops for students and teachers.

Magdalena comes from Szczecin. She started learning to play percussion at the age of 18 in the percussion class of Dariusz Jagiełło.          In 2006, she graduated with honors from the Academy of Music. F. Chopin    in Warsaw and polished her artistic workshop also during her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, in the percussion class of    prof. Gert Mortensen. She get her PhD degree in 2020 at Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

She is working with composer to enrich the repertoire of percussion music and  dedicated to her duo pieces, such as Passacaglia by Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska or Returning Sounds by Miłosz Bembinow became well known percussion duo compositions.

Magdalena colaborate also with great musicians as Katarzyna Myćka, Asuna Arashi, Felix Kubin, Percussion Claviers de Lyon and orchestras National Philharmony Warsaw, Sinfonia Varsovia.

Anna Kwiatkowska (1978) graduated from the Academy of Music in Cracow. She has participated in numerous masterclasses as well as the Impuls courses in Graz and the Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt. In 1998-2008, as the leader of the Violarium string trio, she gave many concerts in Poland and abroad (Germany, Italy, Austria, Lithuania, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Mexico). Anna Kwiatkowska performs as a soloist performing both outstanding pieces of contemporary violin repertoire (including Berio, Boulez, Carter, Haas, Kurtág, Nono, Saariaho, Sørensen), as well as pieces written especially for her by leading Polish composers (including Wojciech Blecharz, Wojciech Ziemowit Zych, Jagoda Szmytka, Sławomir Wojciechowski, Sławomir Kupczak, Artur Kroschel, Rafał Zapała, Wojciech Błażejczyk, Dominik Karski). She has performed, inter alia, at the Days of New Italian Music and Days of New Danish Music in Krakow, Summer Music Festival in Copenhagen, Bendigo Intenational Festival of Exploratory Music in Australia, International Chamber Music Festival in Beijing, Audio Art Festival in Cracow, Musica Polonica Nova festival in Wrocław, Poznań Music Spring, the  “Łańcuch” (“Chain”) Festival in Warsaw and at the Warsaw Autumn Festival. She collaborated with the MusikFabrik  ensemble in Cologne, performing at important events and in prestigious venues, such as the Musikfest in Berlin or Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum. Anna Kwiatkowska is a co-organizer of educational contemporary music workshops for young people as part of the “Harmonies and Noises” series and the “Dźwiękowisko” (“Sound Playground”) educational series in cooperation with the Institute of Music and Dance. Her album “Eidos”, recorded together with the pianist Joanna Opalińska, was nominated for the Fryderyk 2017 Award in the chamber music category. Kwiatkowska is a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Performs with the Warsaw-based Chain Ensemble. She also performs contemporary music in the flow unit group formed with the cellist Mikołaj Pałosz and the pianist Adam Kośmieja, and in a duet with Mikołaj Pałosz.

Flutist, scholarship holder of the ‘KPO for Culture’ and IAM ‘Promotion of Polish Culture Abroad’ programmes, laureate of the ‘Muzyczny Orzeł’ statuette in the premiere performance category. . Honored with the “Meritorious for Polish Culture” badge for her outstanding contributions.

As a soloist, she has performed at national and international festivals, including the International Flute Festival (UK), La Côte Flûte Festival (Switzerland), Journées Art & Science (France), CAMPGround22 (USA), I Djur & Mols (Denmark), the International Festival of Kraków Composers, Musica Polonica Nova, and more.

Specializing in contemporary music, she has premiered around one hundred works and recorded numerous compositions by Polish and international composers. Since her student years, she has been associated with Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej (Ensemble OMN), making her debut with the ensemble at the “Warsaw Autumn” Festival in 2000. With OMN, she has performed at festivals in Poland and abroad, including in China, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Slovakia, and Austria.

She is a co-founder of Lorien Trio, which has been performing in Poland and worldwide (Lithuania, Turkey, China) since 2004. The harp trio has commissioned and premiered over 20 works by Polish and international composers. Since 2012, she has collaborated with Japanese pianist Rinko Yoshino, regularly performing alternately in Poland and Japan to promote the music of their respective countries.

She graduated with honors from the Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and furthered her studies at the Malmö Academy of Music under Anders Ljungar-Chapelon, supported by a one-year Svenska Institutet scholarship. In 2022, she earned a PhD from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

In addition to her artistic career, she is active in pedagogy and innovation. Since 2021, she has been a consultant for the Center for Artistic Education. She promotes contemporary flute techniques at lectures and international conferences, runs a flute blog and publishes both scholarly and popularisation articles.

Mikołaj Pałosz (born 1976) is a freelance cellist specializing in contemporary and avant-garde music performance. He obtained a PhD in Music Performance at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Prizewinner at international music competitions including the Penderecki International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Cracow and Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw.

He appears at the Warsaw Autumn, Wrocław Musica Polonica Nova, Katowice Polish Music Premieres, Poznań Music Spring, as well as Audio Art and Ad Libitum music festivals. Mikołaj is a member of the Warsaw Cellonet Group and Chain Ensemble. As a member of Netherlands-based Cello Octet Amsterdam (formerly Conjunto Ibérico) he has toured throughout Europe, USA and South America.

His solo contemporary music recital CD Cellovator was released in 2008. In 2021 together with violinist Anna Kwiatkowska he recorded CD „Aure” (Requiem Records). Mikołaj has composed works for solo cello Pretudes (2012) and created audiovisual compositions Dłubak Soundsystem (2012) and AVC (2016) sponsored by the city of Warsaw and Polish Minister of Culture. Together with violinist Anna Kwiatkowska, Mikołaj forms a duo, and along with pianist Adam Kośmieja the flow unit trio, presenting contemporary and latest repertoire. Mikołaj Pałosz is collaborating with leading Polish composers in creation of new works and has premiered many pieces often dedicated to him.

Mikołaj Pałosz is a board member of the Witold Lutosławski Society and President of the Foundation for the Promotion of Young Cellist, organiser of the Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw.

http://www.mikolajpalosz.com

Klarnecista, solista Polskiej Opery Królewskiej w Warszawie oraz członek „Chain Ensemble” prowadzonego przez Andrzeja Bauera. Naukę gry na klarnecie rozpoczynał pod kierunkiem Krzysztofa Zbijowskiego w Warszawie, ukończyłAkademię Muzyczną im. Karola Szymanowskiego w Katowicach w klasie klarnetu Arkadiusza Adamskiego. Odbył także studia w Pôle Supérieur d’Enseignement Artistique w Paryżu w klasach: klarnetu Florenta Héau, klarnetu basowego Jean-Marca Volty oraz kameralistyki Philippe’a Ferro. Studiował ponadto muzykologię (Université Paris-Sorbonne) oraz filozofię (Uniwersytet Warszawski). Obecnie jest doktorantem Akademii Muzycznej im. G. i K. Bacewiczów w Łodzi poświęcając się w swojej pracy naukowej związkom muzyki z filozofią i estetyką późnej nowoczesności.

Współpracował z takimi orkiestrami jak: Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Polska Filharmonia Kameralna czy Orkiestra Miasta Tychy „Aukso”; a na polu muzyki najnowszej z zespołami: Ensemble l’Itinéraire, Veni Ensemble oraz Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej. Bierze udział w licznych festiwalach, wśród których warto wymienić: „Warszawska Jesień”, „Chopin i jego Europa” w Warszawie, „Sacrum Profanum” w Krakowie i „Bridges”, podczas którego debiutował na scenie wiedeńskiego Konzerthaus.

Jest 37-krotnym laureatem konkursów międzynarodowych i ogólnopolskich: klarnetowych, organowych, kompozytorskich i kameralnych. Wśród najważniejszych uważa Nagrodę Główną i Nagrodę Specjalną na XI Konkursie Muzyki Współczesnej organizowanym przez Polskie Towarzystwo Muzyki Współczesnej (Radziejowice – 2016), Grand Prix podczas VII Zachodniopomorskiego Festiwalu Klarnetowego (Szczecin – 2016) oraz 1 miejsce i Nagrodę Specjalną podczas Konkursu Międzynarodowego „ClariSax” (Valenciennes, Francja – 2013). Stypendysta m.in.: Narodowego Centrum Kultury w programie „Młoda Polska” (2017) oraz Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego (2012). Występował w większości filharmonii polskich jak również poza granicami kraju: w Austrii, Czechach, Francji, Litwie, Łotwie, Niemczech, Portugalii, Rosji, Słowacji, Ukrainie, Węgrzech i we Włoszech.

Swoje kompozycje i transkrypcje wydaje we Francji (Gérard Billaudot Éditeur, Klarthe Édition) oraz w kraju (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne). W 2018 roku wziął udział w projekcie PWM „Sto na sto. Muzyczne dekady wolności” z okazji obchodów rocznicy odzyskania przez Polskę niepodległości, nagrywając utwory kameralne Konstantego Regamey’a oraz Tadeusza Wieleckiego. Album ten został nagrodzony Nagrodą Akademii Fonograficznej „Fryderyk” w kategoriach „Najwybitniejsze nagranie muzyki polskiej” oraz „Album roku.”

Pianist—soloist and chamber musician—specialising in performance of contemporary music; Doctor of Fine Arts. She took her first piano lessons at the age of five, attending the first-level State Music School in Racibórz, and continued her education on the second level in Rybnik. In 2016 she obtained a master’s degree in the Academy of Music in Kraków, having studied with prof. Mariusz Sielski and prof. Milena Kędra. In 2021 she defended, with honours, her doctoral thesis: ‘The pianist in the light of piano literature from the avant-garde of the 1960s up until the present: roles and hearing tropes’. In 2014 she also began studies in Neue Klavier Musik at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, first with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and with prof. David Smeyers, completed by 2017.

She was awarded special prize in the 2014 edition of the 20^th– & 21^st-Century Music Competition for Young Performers in Radziejowice, second prize in the 23^rd Concorso Luigi Nono, a scholarship from Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and a grant from the President of the City of Kraków. From 2013 to 2015 she was a member of the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, with whom she performed during the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt and at the International Festival of Contemporary Music ‘Warsaw Autumn’. In Cologne she was given the opportunity to work with the Musikfabrik ensemble—a collaboration which concluded with a concert at the Universität der Künste Berlin. As a soloist she has performed in—among other venues and institutions—the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, WDR, Deutschlandfunk, the Lviv Philharmonic, the ‘Świętokrzyska’ Philharmonic, and the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio in Warsaw, as well as with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR).

She has performed at many festivals—including Acht Brücken, ‘Warsaw Autumn’, Witold Lutosławski Festival ‘Chain’ in Warsaw, Kraków’s Sacrum Profanum, Audio Art, ELEMENTI, unsound, and aXes, MUSICA MODERNA in Łódź, NeoArte in Gdańsk, as well as 7 Nurtów [Seven Currents] and TRZY-CZTE-RY in Warsaw—and worked with such conductors as Rüdiger Bohn, Marek Moś, and Jose Luis Castillo. She has given first performances of pieces by—among other composers—Piotr Peszat, Andrzej Kwieciński, Artur Zagajewski, Cezary Duchnowski, Joanna Woźny, Jarosław Płonka, Jacek Sotomski, Marta Śniady, Paweł Malinowski, Monika Szpyrka, Anna Sowa, Nina Fukuoka, Żaneta Rydzewska, Martyna Kosecka, and Viacheslav Kyrylov.

She has taken masterclasses from—among other pianists and ensembles—Aleksey Orlovetsky, Nicolas Hodges, Benjamin Kobler, Sebastian Berweck, Maciej Grzybowski, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Modern, and ensemble recherche. She has attended the impuls Academy in Graz, Darmstadt’s Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Ostrava Days, and Stockhausen-kurse in Kürten. When studying in Cologne, she gained experience in conducting and took up improvisation too, developing in these fields under prof. Paul Alvares.

In 2014 she cofounded the group known and performing to this day as Spółdzielnia Muzyczna contemporary ensemble—for the 2021/2022 season they have been awarded the prestigious Ensemble Prize from Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung. The year 2020 saw the premiere of her original project ‘Feminine forms’, focused on women’s performance of pieces by contemporary female composers. Rediscovering Poland’s music, she came across the œuvre of Barbara Buczek, which resulted in a project covering the composer’s complete works for the piano, premiered in 2021 as part of that year’s Sacrum Profanum festival.