Artists

Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields was formed in 1958 as a small, conductorless chamber ensemble, based in the elegantly porticoed 18th-century church on the east side of Trafalgar Square.

Kenneth Sillito Internationally recognised as one of Britain's most distinguished musicians, Kenneth Sillito has excelled as chamber musician, orchestral leader, and director.

Choir of the Cracow Philharmonic consists of 80 artists, graduates of middle and high schools of music. The Choir of the Cracow Philharmonic was established in 1945. Since the moment of its creation it has performed almost 2000 concerts (including over 300 abroad).

The Mixed Marian Choir is based at the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes parish in Cracow led by missioner priests. The choir was founded in the thirties by Rev. Józef Orszulik. Already in 1932 it was awarded the 1st prize at the Choir Competition organised in the Catholic Centre of today's Cracow Concert Hall.

Conductor, since 1968 Jan Rybarski, a graduate of the Salesian Organist School in Przemyśl and the Music Academy in Cracow, has been leading the Marian Choir. He completed his studies defending the MA thesis concerning choral singing, written under the supervision of professor Jerzy Kurcz. He was conductor Józef Radwan's student.

The Polish Radio Choir in Kraków was founded in 1948 by Jerzy Gert. The first choirmasters of the choir were Alojzy Kluczniok and Tadeusz Dobrzański. From its beginnings till 1994 the Choir was an integral part of the Orchestra and Choir of the Polish Radio and Television in Kraków.

Graduated from the Academy of Music in Cracow (diploma with the highest distinction), the Liturgical Institute of the Papal Academy of Theology in Cracow (diploma with distinction) as well as a College of Voice Emission of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (diploma with distinction). In March 1990 - 1992 he was a laureate of the Polish Competition Choirmasters in Poznań.

Choirmaster and teacher, a graduate of the Academy of Music in Cracow. In 1989 he established the Chamber Choir Cantores Cracovienses that gave concerts in France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Since 1989 he has been teaching violin and he has been leader of youth orchestras in the Group of Schools Music State in Cracow.

FLORIPARI - the Early Music Ensemble, formed in 1994 by graduates of Music Academy in Kraków. The repertoire of the ensemble includes vocal and instrumental works of Renaissance and Baroque music, particularly Polish. The young musicians play the period instruments.

Hailed as the leading Polish orchestra, the NATIONAL POLISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA fulfills the role of a cultural ambassador representing Poland in the international arts scene.

The "Amadeus" Chamber Orchestra of the Polish Radio was founded in 1968 by the conductor Agnieszka Duczmal and originally appeared under the auspices of "Jeunesses Musicales" and Poznań Music Society. In 1976, the Orchestra under Agnieszka Duczmal received the Silver Medal of Herbert von Karajan in the International Encounters of Young Orchestras in West Berlin.

The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra has a history dating back to 1945, when Stefan Rachoń, the violinist and conductor, established an orchestra which was to fulfil a wide range of tasks. In practice, the lion's share of the repertoire was popular and light music. Making archive recordings for Polish Radio and TV, which for many years functioned as a single institution, was one of the orchestra's main tasks.

In April 1984, at the invitation of the Polish Chamber Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin visited Poland to participate in a concert both as soloist and conductor.To accommodate to the repertoire to be performed, the orchestra was obliged to expand its ranks to 40 musicians and accomplished this by recruiting many talented young musicians from all over the country.

With numerous invitations to participate in prestigious music festivals, glowing reviews from the critics and enthusiastic audiences for its concerts, the Sinfonietta Cracovia ranks among the leading chamber orchestras not only in Poland but on the wider European musical landscape.

Jan Tomasz Adamus was Joachim Grubich's student at the Cracow Music Academy and Hans van Nieuwkoop's student at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. He is a laureate of the international organ competition in Arnstadt. He performs at home and abroad, giving organ recitals and chamber concerts.

Former music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Germany, Gabriel Chmura was appointed music director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice from the season 2001/2002.

Born into a family of musical traditions, she studied conducting with Prof. Witold Krzemiński at the State Higer School in Poznań, graduating with honours. After her studies, she worked as an assistant conductor in the State Philharmonic in Poznań, the - as a conductor - in Poznań Opera, where she prepared among others, the Polish premiere of B. Britten's opera Midsummer Night's Dream.

He was born in 1926. He is a conductor and composer, laureate conductor of National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, he belongs to the generation of musicians who, starting the activity after the war gave basis for musical life in our country.

Jerzy Maksymiuk was born in Grodno, Poland, and studied violin, piano, conducting and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1964 he won first prize in the Paderewski Piano Composition.

One of the renown Polish conductors, he is celebrating 50 years of his artistic career. From1969 to 1980 he headed the Wroclaw Philharmonic,as well as the National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (1975-1976)

She started her violin education at the age of 7 and two years later, at the age of 9, she won the 1st prize at the National Violinist Competition in Wrocław. Since she was 8 and until she received her honorary mention diploma at the Cracow Music Academy, she kept working under the supervision of Eugenia Umińska.

Ingrid Haubold. Was born in Germany and studied with Annalies Kupper in Munich and then with Ellen Repp and Herbert Mayer in New York, starting her career in German opera-houses at Detmold and Bielefeld, before embarking on a freer artistic career that has taken her to Berlin and Hamburg

Monika Ledzion started her musical education in the violin class in Rzeszów. In June 2000 she graduated with distinctions from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in Halina Słonicka's class.

Christian Lindberg is one of the most remarkable musicians of our time - THE trombonist of the 21st century, he has been solely responsible for establishing the trombone as a solo instrument and is now firmly established as one of the major instrumentalists of our time.

He has graduated Faculty of Composition and Theory of Music in Music Academy in Gdańsk. In 1989 he finished with honorable the second major Faculty of Vocal and Acting in the same Academy.

This Polish bass graduated from the Łódź Academy of Music in 1985. He has won prizes at the vocal competitions in Warsaw, Kudowa, Bytom and Krynica. He took part in the finals of the "Belvedere" International Vocal Competition in Vienna, a success that brought him to Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he debuted in the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1987).

Grand Prix winner during the last edition of the prestiguous Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium held in Brussels. Graduate of the Primary and Secondary School of Music in Mława, before taking up singing, she studied piano. In May 2005 she also graduate her studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.

Born in 1985 in Klagenfurt. Graduate of the conservatoires of music in Klagenfurt and Linz. Currently a student of Anna Pfeiffer at Vienna` s Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.