Performers

Conductor, academic teacher at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk. An active conductor since age 13, he currently serves as artistic director of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice and deputy director for music of the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk. Previously he also held the posts of principal guest conductor to the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg and chief conductor of Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (INSO-Lviv).

Eminent Polish singer of Greek descent, music composer and text author; an improviser using the polyphonic singing technique. One of the most original personalities in Polish music, associated with jazz and the related genres, blues, rock, and the ethnic music scene. His voice can be heard on more than 60 albums.

Born in 2001, he graduated from primary music school in Płońsk, and continued his education with Joanna Ławrynowicz-Just and Marek Bracha (piano), Beata Popis (harpsichord), Anna Misior (chamber music), and Jarosław Wróblewski (organ) in the Zenon Brzewski Music School in Warsaw.

Countertenor, graduate of the Department of Vocal Studies of Warsaw’s Chopin University of Music (class of Artur Stefanowicz). While still a student, he made his debut in Johann Strauss II’s operetta The Revenge of the Bat at Szczecin’s Opera at the Castle. Well known and highly regarded for his interpretations of contemporary classical music, he has collaborated with such composers as Paweł Mykietyn, Bartosz Chajdecki, Maciej Zieliński, and Andrzej Zarycki.

Having graduated from a construction industry high school in Białystok and in architecture from the Warsaw University of Technology, she eventually decided to dedicate herself to a singing career. She studied voice with Magdalena Halfter in secondary school and at Warsaw’s State Higher School of Music (1955–1960). Simultaneously she performed as a soloist in the Polish Army Song and Dance Ensemble.

She took piano lessons with Maria Drzewiecka at Toruń Conservatory and later with Henryk Sztompka. In 1939 she settled in Kraków, where in 1945 she took up studies with Sztompka at the State Higher School of Music and developed her abilities for several years under Zbigniew Drzewiecki. In 1949 she won the 11th place in the 4th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.
Smendzianka mainly focused on Polish music (Chopin, Janiewicz, Krogulski, Ogiński, Szymanowska, F. Lessel, Zarębski, and contemporary composers).

Poland’s leading chamber group of singers, founded in 1990 by Anna Szostak, who leads the ensemble to this day. The ensemble is predominantly renowned for contemporary music performances, but is equally adept at ancient music.

A leading Polish jazz pianist, graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music (1987–1990, Oscar Peterson Prize winner), semi-finalist of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition in Washington, and member of the orchestra led by the legendary clarinettist Artie Shaw.