Polish evening

      Wroclaw Baroque Ensemble was founded by Andrzej Kosendiak and has been active under his artistic direction from the very beginning. The ensemble cooperates with musicians of the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, as well as vocalists and instrumentalists from Poland and Europe. Wroclaw Baroque Ensemble performs above all Baroque repertoire, with particular emphasis on Polish music, from chamber compositions to oratorio and cantata works. The ensemble has performed at excellent international festivals and in many Polish cities. Wroclaw Baroque Ensemble has recorded several CDs. Worth mentioning are two albums with the music of Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki – the first of them was nominated for the Fryderyk 2011 music award and was honored with Wroclaw Music Prize. As a director of the Witold Lutoslawski National Forum of Music, conductor and teacher, Andrzej Kosendiak counts among the most active musicians and promoters in Poland. Among other things, he was appointed director of the Wroclaw Philharmonic and the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, has founded the following resident ensembles of the National Forum of Music: the NFM Choir, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, and NFM Boys’ Choir. In his carrier he also made a couple of significant recording projects. Early music is of particular interest to Andrzej Kosendiak. As a conductor, he gives regular concerts with the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic and NFM Choir as well as with the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, in addition to philharmonic orchestras across Poland. He received many award for his work.             Aldona Bartnik studied at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, specializing in the Early Music performance. A huge role of Bartnik vocal activities plays an ensemble and choral singing. Since 2008, she cooperates with a numerous prestigious groups. Her academic research during Master Study concerned Polish music. For that reason she regularly promotes it, organizing concerts and workshops around the Europe. With the Wroclaw Baroque Ensemble under guidance of Andrzej Kosendiak, she recorded five CD albums devoted to Polish Baroque. Four of them in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018 were nominated to the prominent Polish music award – Fryderyk.             Piotr Lykowski is a Polish countertenor who has mastered his skills during interpretation workshops and master classes in Poland and abroad. In accordance with his voice scale (countertenor) he specializes in baroque music, mainly oratorios and cantatas (over hundred parts). He has collaborated with many soloists and early music ensembles, chamber orchestras and philharmonics. Piotr Lykowski is a professor of singing at the Wroclaw Academy of Music and the Secondary Music School in Wroclaw. He is one of the founders and director of the International Andrzej Hiolski Vocal Competition in Kudowa-Zdrój. Benjamin Glaubitz received his first musical education in the famous boys choir Dresdner Kreuzchor. He studied at Dresden University of Music with Prof. Margret Trappe-Wiel and in the master class with Prof. Olaf Bär. He also completed master classes with Charlotte Lehmann, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lothar Odinius and Gerold Huber. He played with renowned ensembles and sang with well-known conductors from all over the world. Concerts as a soloist or with ensembles such as Collegium Vocale Gent led him to numerous European, Asian and South American music centers.             Bass-baritone Jerzy Butryn graduated from the Academy of Music in Wroclaw and held a scholarship of the Erasmus programme at the Hochschule fur Musik Detmold. At present he is a doctoral student at the Vocal Department of the Academy of Music in Wroclaw. He has participated in vocal workshops and master classes run by great singers. Butryn is a prize-winner at numerous competitions. He also collaborates with early music ensembles Capella Cracoviensis, Cappella Viridimontana, Collegio di Musica Sacra, as well as appearing at the Wroclaw Puppet Theatre and with the NFM Choir.   Program:   Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665 to 1667-1734): In virtute tua   Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński (1650-1713): Pariendo non Gravaris   Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665 to 1667-1734): Jesu Corona Virginum                                                                                           Tristes Erant Apostolis                                                                                           Laetatus Sum   Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński (1650-1713): Jesu Spes Mea                                                                         Sonata   Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665 to 1667-1734): Completorium   Andrzej Kosendiak – conductor Aldona Bartnik – soprano Piotr Lykowski – countertenor Benjamin Glaubitz – tenor Jerzy Butryn – bass-baritone Wrocław Baroque Ensemble: Zbigniew Pilch, Mikołaj Zgółka – violin, Kuba Kościukiewicz – cello, Marta Niedźwiecka – harpsichord, Manuela Tanzer, Gerd Bachmann – trumpet