Performers

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.

A theatre, film, and radio actress, graduate of the Acting Studio at the Gdańsk Wybrzeże (Coastal) Theatre. In 2011 the artist was decorated with the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.

Przemysław Stippa is an actor and graduate of Warsaw’s Theatre Academy (2004). Since graduating, he has worked at the National Theatre in Warsaw. He also works with other theatres in the city: Dramatyczny, Scena Prezentacje, Soho – Studio Teatralne Koło, as well as the Juliusz Osterwa Theatre in Lublin. He also appears in TV productions and is an accomplished voice actor.

He graduated from Kazimierz Michalik’s class at Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin Academy (now – University) of Music. An Austrian government scholarship made it possible for him to complete postgraduate studies with Tobias Kühne in Vienna. He also attended courses taught by Miloš Sádlo, Daniel Szafran, and Roman Jabłoński.

Singer and instrumentalist, songwriter, composer of theatre and film music; curator and music producer; documentary film director and scriptwriter; promoter of Polish and foreign traditional music; originator of Monodia Polska singers’ ensemble, which performs songs from oral tradition.

One of the most recognisable harpsichordists of the young generation, Świątkiewicz has performed on many types of harpsichords and clavichords, as well as on historical pianos and organs, focusing particularly on the art of improvisation.