The seats are unnumbered.
Joanna KONARZEWSKA – graduate of the Academy of Music (currently K. Penderecki) in Kraków and Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole in Odense.
In the years 2009–2014 she was concertmaster of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Since 2014 she has been concertmaster of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Orchestra in Kraków. She is also a guest concertmaster of the Beethoven Academy Orchestra.
A laureate of chamber music and violin competitions, including the 1st Eugenia Umińska National Competition for Young Violinists in 2005 in Poznań, the 10th Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2006 in Lublin, and the 1st National Competition for String Instrumentalists in 2006 in Kraków. In 2008, she received the award for the best string instrumentalist at the ISA, which was part of the Vienna-Prague-Budapest programme. In 2014, she won Den Danske Strygerkonkurrence.
She has participated in numerous master classes in solo, chamber and orchestral instrumental studies, including the Australian International Summer Orchestra Institute in Tasmania, the Internationale Sommerakademie in Semmering, Austria, and courses in Łańcut, Żagań and Kołobrzeg. She has had the opportunity to work under the guidance of such teachers as Jadwiga Kaliszewska, Milan Vitek, Ernst Kovacic, Thomas Furi, Marcin Baranowski, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Krzysztof Śmietana.
She was a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Małopolska Scholarship Foundation Sapere Auso. In 2012 and 2013 she was nominated for the cultural award of the city of Gdańsk.
As a soloist and concertmaster she has worked with such orchestras as: Odense Symfoniorkester, Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra in Gdańsk, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic in Sopot, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra.
Jakub ŻUREK – graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Kraków (currently K. Penderecki) in the violin class of Piotr Tarcholik. He also graduated with distinction from the Management of Contemporary Culture at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University. He participated twice in the Summer Academy of the Scharoun Ensemble der Berliner Philharmoniker. He perfected his skills under the supervision of artists and teachers such as Peter Buck, Mikhail Kopelman, Alexander String Quartet, Marcin Baranowski, Jakub Jakowicz, Łukasz Błaszczyk, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Dominika Falger and others.
He is a musician of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra as the first voice of the first violin section and co-founds the AER Quartet string quartet, with which he won the first prize at the 12th Luigi Zanuccoli Music Competition in Soliano al Rubicone, as well as the first prize and the Special Prize at the 17th International Talents for Europe Competition in Dolny Kubin. He is a two-time scholarship holder of the Prime Minister's Scholarship.
He has collaborated with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Tychy Chamber Orchestra AUKSO, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, the Polish Art Philharmonic. As a chamber and orchestral musician, he gives concerts in Poland and abroad. He has performed at the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, the Chopin and his Europe Festival, the Film Music Festival in Krakow, the Szymanowski / Poland / World Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Young Praga Festival, the Sinfonietta Festival, the Jan Kiepura Festival, the Opera Rara Festival, the Polish Music Festival, the Last Nights of the Proms, and others.
Błażej MICHNA – born in Ruda Śląska, viola player, scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2008, he graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music (currently K. Penderecki) in Kraków in the viola class of Janusz Pisarski. He also studied in the viola class of Andra Darzins at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart as part of the Sokrates-Erasmus scholarship program.
He has participated in numerous master classes – solo (Piotr Reichert, Andra Darzins, Christophe Desjardins, Avri Levitan, Stefan Kamasa, Tabea Zimmermann), chamber (Dominik Połoński, Tadeusz Gadzina, Altenberg Trio, Peter Buck, A. Spiri, DAFÔ quartet) and orchestral (International Bachakademie Stuttgart, Bydgoskie Impresje Muzyczne, Polish-German Young Philharmonic Lower Silesia). In 2018, he obtained a doctorate in musical arts at the Academy of Music in Kraków.
As a member of the SONUS piano quintet, he won a distinction at the 16th Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Łódź (2007), as well as the Marek Stachowski Special Prize and the PWM Special Prize for the best interpretation of a piece by a Polish composer at the 13th International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Kraków (2009).
He collaborates with the Tatra Climate Orchestra, Przemyśl Chamber Orchestra, Tarnów Chamber Orchestra, Wieliczka Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia Orchestra, Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Strauss Orchestra Obligato. In the past a member of the Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy AUKSO and the Opole Philharmonic, he is currently a viola player in the Kraków Philharmonic. He also works as a viola teacher and head of the string section of the B. Rutkowski Primary and Secondary Music School in Kraków.
Michał DĄBEK – graduate of the Master's degree studies at the Academy of Music (currently K. Penderecki) in Kraków in the cello class of Adam Klocek. He participated in many solo and chamber music courses, where he worked under the supervision of musicians such as Claus Reichardt, Peter Buck, Catalin Ilea, Stanisław Firlej, Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska, Marek Moś, Dafo Quartet.
In 2007, together with the Conash Trio, he won third place at the 11th International Contemporary Music Competition in Kraków. In the same year, together with the Palabra de Musica Fuerte ensemble, he won distinctions at the national Harmonia Viva competition and at the 2nd International Festival From Baroque to Jazz in Wrocław.
He has participated in many festivals, including the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Warsaw Autumn, the Film Music Festival in Kraków, the International Festival of Kraków Composers, Music in Old Kraków, the International Festival Music on the Heights in Zakopane, Young Euro Classic in Berlin, and the Arts Festival Dimension in Seoul.
He collaborates with many chamber ensembles, including Conash Trio, Palabra de Musica Fuerte, Ara Ensemble, Cellostrada, with whom he gives concerts in Poland and abroad. Since 2011, he has been a cellist in the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra. He also serves as the leader of the cello group of the Beethoven Academy Orchestra.
His portfolio also includes film music recordings and CD recordings for, among others, the DUX label.
Duszan KORCZAKOWSKI – graduate of the Academy of Music (currently K. Penderecki) in Kraków in the double bass class of Jerzy Tokarczyk. Winner of numerous awards in national double bass competitions. Participant in many courses for soloists and orchestral master classes, associated with tours in Poland, England, Germany, Holland, Austria, China, North and South America.
In the 2007–2008 season he was the concertmaster of the double bass section at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile. He currently collaborates with many orchestras and ensembles, such as Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Capella Cracoviensis and the chamber ensembles of the Kraków Philharmonic and the Academy of Music. Over the past 10 years he has performed with artists such as Ivo Pogorelich, Placido Domingo, Gheorghe Zamfir, Steven
Isserlis, Krzysztof Penderecki. He took part in concerts as part of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the Film Music Festival, and the UnSound Festival.
He collaborates with Nigel Kennedy on a regular basis, being a member of the Orchestra of Life, with which he recorded The Four Seasons by A. Vivaldi. In the 2015–2016 season he was a member of the Georgian Baroque Orchestra Georgian Sinfonietta, with which he gave concerts with such early music stars as Jordi Savall and Sergio Azzolini. As a soloist he recorded double bass sonatas by Frank Proto and Paul Hindemith for Polish Radio. He also gave concerts in Chile, performing premieres of works by students of the Kraków Academy of Music.
