British Music Festival
The Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association – Warsaw Branch together with The Polish Chamber Musicians Association and the Nizio Foundation cordially invite you to the British Music Festival, which will take place between 21th–29th November 2025 in Warsaw under the honorary patronage of The British Embassy.
The project is supported by the British Council as part of UK/Poland Season 2025.
The idea behind the Festival is to promote the extremely diverse chamber and choral works of British composers among both performers and listeners in Poland.
PROGRAMME:
- Friday, November 21nd, 18.00 – Student Dormitory “Dziekanka”, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 58/60 – choral workshops
accompanying event organized in the framework of VII International Conference “The personality of the Conductor” (entrance free)
please sign up via the google formular: https://forms.gle/qGnrJJ7GvCk8zbBh6
Hubert Parry – I was glad, James Macmillan – A New Song, Gerald Finzi – God has Gone Up, Percy Grainger – Londonderry Air: Brigg Fair, Charles Stanford – Beati quorum via, John Ireland – Greater Love Hath No Man, Judith Weir – I Love all Beauteous Things, Vaughan Williams – O Taste and See,
Edward Elgar – Te Deum
Conductor – David Wordsworth
- Monday, November 24th, 19.00 – The Chopin University of Music, Dame Judith Weir Portrait Concert (tickets 5 PLN)
https://chopin.edu.pl/szczegoly-wydarzenia/1314_portret-tworczosci-dame-judith-weir
accompanying event organized by Chopin University of Music
Judith Weir – King Harald’s Saga: Ariadna Laddy – soprano, Songs from the Exotic: Maria Kożewnikow – soprano, Paweł Popko – piano, Music for 247 strings: Maria Belica – Mieczkowska – violin, Paweł Popko – piano, The King of France: Xiwen Yu – piano, Three Chorales: Sebastian Kozub – cello, Alisa Zviezdova – piano, Piano Trio Two: Marcelina Rucińska- violin, Adam Doniec – cello, Jakub Gorka – piano
- Tuesday November 25th – 10.00- 13.00, The Chopin University of Music, Senat Hall – workshops for composers with Dame Judith Weir’s (etrance free)
accompanying event organized by Chopin University of Music
- Thursday, November 27th, 19.00, Nizio Gallery, ul. Inżynierska 3, Warsaw, CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT – free tickets – but because of limited number of seats available, please sign up via the google formular: https://forms.gle/DvLmUdCLAfEAk9rz5
Programme: Philip Cashian – Saltimbanques for violin and piano, Lennox Berkeley – Horn Trio, Frederick Delius – Sonata no3 for violin and piano, Peter Maxwell Davies – Sea Eagle for solo horn, Edward Elgar – Sonata op. 82 for violin and piano
Performers: Christian Danowicz – violin, Tomasz Binkowski – horn, Julia Samojlo – piano
- Thursday November 28th, 19.00, Nizio Gallery, ul. Inżynierska 3, Warsaw, CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT – free tickets – but because of limited number of seats available, please sign up via the google formular: https://forms.gle/DvLmUdCLAfEAk9rz5
Programme: Rebecca Clarke – Passacaglia on an old English Tune for cello and piano, Charles Villiers Stanford – Three Intermezzi for clarinet and piano, Malcolm Arnold – Fantasy for solo clarinet, William Walton – Passacaglia for solo cello, Gerald Finzi – Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano, Diana Burrell – Heron for cello and piano, Michael Berkeley – Haiku 1: Birds, John Ireland – Fantasy Sonata for clarinet and piano
Performers: Andrzej Cieplinski – clarinet, Magdalena Bojanowicz – cello, Mischa Kozlowski – piano
- Saturday November 29th – 19.15, St Florians’ Cathedral, CHORAL MUSIC CONCERT (entrance free)
Programme: Sir James MacMillan- Ecce sacerdos magnus, Sir John Rutter – Dormi Jesu, William Lloyd Webber – Missa Princeps Pacis: Kyrie, Sir John Rutter – The Lord bless you and keep you, Bob Chilcott – I lift my eyes, Sir John Tavener – The Lord’s Prayer, William Lloyd Webber – Missa Princeps Pacis: Agnus Dei, Sir Edward Elgar (arr. W. H. Harris) – Nimrod , Will Todd – Ave verum, Alexander L’Estrange – Panis angelicus, Malcolm Archer – Christchurch Mass: Kyrie, Sir Karl Jenkins – Ave Maria, Malcolm Archer – Christchurch Mass: Agnus Dei, Sir Karl Jenkins – Cantate Domino
Performers: MUSICA SACRA Warsaw – Praga Cathedral Choir, Paweł Głowiński – organ, Joanna Łukaszewska – vocal coach, Paweł Łukaszewski – conductor
Curated by David Wordsworth and Julia Samojlo-Paszkowska
Organizer
Co-organizers
Partners
Financial support:
Delius Trust
The Rainbow Dickinson Trust
Chris Johnson (www.rebeccaclarkecomposer.com)
Ms Sidney Buckland
Deep Harmony Ltd.
Media patronage:
Performers:
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David Wordsworth
David worked as a teacher and in music publishing for several years, holding senior positions at Schott and OUP. He was Music Director of the Addison Singers, London for over 25 years – aside from a regular London season, the choirs regularly toured Europe and appeared at Carnegie Hall, New York, in 2012. David has conducted/adjudicated in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, USA, Italy, Spain, France, Norway, Mexico, Cuba, the Philippines, appeared at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and the Musikverein (Vienna), and has held residencies at universities throughout Europe and the USA. He has appeared at all the major London concert venues and made his Barbican debut, conducting an 80th birthday concert for Gavin Bryars, in 2023. Plans for the 25/26 season include concerts at the Church of the Madeleine (Paris), the Channel Islands, the Mozart Requiem in London and performances and recordings with the New London Chamber Choir to celebrate the 100th birthday of the French American composer Betsy Jolas and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hans Werner Henze. David is currently working on a book about Polish choral music and an authorised biography of Sir William Walton.
Photo: Jack Lawson
Judith Weir
was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. She went on to Cambridge University, where her composition teacher was Robin Holloway; and in 1975 attended summer school at Tanglewood, where she worked with Gunther Schuller. After this she spent several years working in schools and adult education in rural southern England; followed by a period based in Scotland, teaching at Glasgow University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During this time she began to write a series of operas (including King Harald’s Saga, The Black Spider, A Night at the Chinese Opera, The Vanishing Bridegroom and Blond Eckbert) which have subsequently received many performances in the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. In collaboration with director Margaret Williams, Weir has created several opera films, including Scipio’s Dream, Hello Dolly, and Armida. As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including Forest, Storm and We are Shadows) which were premiered by the orchestra’s then Music Director, Simon Rattle. She has been commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Music, Untangled and Natural History) the Minnesota Orchestra (The Welcome Arrival of Rain) and the London Sinfonietta (Tiger under the Table); and has written concert works for some notable singers, including Jane Manning, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Alice Coote, Ailish Tynan and Ruby Hughes. She has composed Concertos for Piano (William Howard) and Oboe (Celia Craig). In recent years, Judith Weir has considerably expanded her choral catalogue, with regular performance by choirs worldwide of music such as her Christmas carol Illuminare, Jerusalem written for Stephen Cleobury and the choir of King’s College Cambridge. As associate composer with the BBC Singers (2015-19) she completed two oratorios; In the Land of Uz, about the prophet Job; and blue hills beyond blue hills, to Zen-influenced verse by the Scottish poet Alan Spence. Now based in London, she has had a long association with Spitalfields Music Festival; and has taught as a visiting professor at Princeton, Harvard and Cardiff universities. Honours for her work include the Critics’ Circle, South Bank Show, Ivor Novello and Elise L Stoeger awards, a CBE and The Queen’s Medal for Music. In July 2014 Judith Weir was appointed to the 395-year old royal post of Master of the Queen’s Music, in succession to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Amongst her priorities in this role are the support of school music teachers, of amateur orchestras and choirs, and of rural festivals. In this role she has written music for national and royal occasions, including the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations, Platinum Jubilee and the UK’s official commemoration of the 1918 Armistice. Since Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, Weir is now Master of The King’s Music. Weir was awarded a Damehood in the 2024 New Year Honours list for her services to music. She has also created new music for many community groups and schools, including Burntwood School Wandsworth, Aberdeen Art Gallery, St Mary’s Church Dover and Greenacre School, Barnsley. Judith Weir’s music has been widely recorded, particularly on the NMC and Delphian labels; and is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co.
www.wisemusicclassical.com (source)
Photo: Łukasz Rajchert
Christian Danowicz
was born in 1983 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He began to learn the violin at the age of four with his father, Enrique Danowicz, a violinist and teacher. He graduated with honors from the Conservatoire de Musique in Toulouse (France), where he studied with Professor Gilles Colliard. In 2010, he received a Master of Arts degree from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with Professors – Julia and Krzysztof Jakowicz. At the same university, he completed his bachelor’s degree in the symphony and opera conducting class of Prof. Antoni Wit and Prof. Tomasz Bugaj. He is the winner of the 3rd prize at the 4th T. Wroński International Violin Competition in Warsaw (2009), where he was also awarded a special prize for the most interesting artistic individuality of the competition and for the best student of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2010, he won first prize at the Chamber Music Competition during the Duxbury Music Festival in the USA. Since 2010, Christian Danowicz has been the concertmaster of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra in Wrocław, with which he also regularly performs as a soloist and conductor. He is a co-founder of the NFM Leopoldinum Soloists Trio, which in 2012 received a scholarship for postgraduate studies at the Reina Sofia School of Music (Madrid) in the chamber music class of the first violinist of the Alban Berg Quartet. Christian Danowicz is a professor of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, where he teaches violin. The Leopoldinum Orchestra’s albums Made in Poland (2018) and Supernova (2019), on which Christian Danowicz appears as soloist, arranger and conductor, were awarded the prestigious Fryderyk statuette.
Tomasz Bińkowski
Born in 1969 roku in Łódź (Poland). He began his musical education in his hometown, first learning to play the violin at the Elementary Music School. He started his French horn studies at the Henryk Wieniawski National School of Music in Łódź with Professor Czesława Szczukowska. In 1989 he entered the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw joining the studio of Professor Jan Jeżewski. Already during his studies, he had collaborated with numerous orchestras and ensembles in Poland, including Camerata Vistula, Ensemble de Narol, Chain Ensemble, Polish Radio Orchestra or Sinfonietta Cracovia – with which he continues to appear till today. 1992 marks the beginning of his cooperation with Sinfonia Varsovia. Simultaneously, since 1993 he had been the principal horn player of Warsaw’s Chamber Opera. During this time he had repeatedly collaborated and performed with the Menuhin Festival Orchestra under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, as well as the Penderecki Festival Orchestra under Krzysztof Penderecki. In 1998 he began his contract with international orchestra Philharmonie der Nationen under Justus Frantz as the principal horn player. He is a co-founder of brass quintet Chamber Brass and wind sextet Gruppo di Tempera. Currently, he holds the position of the principal horn player – soloist of Teatr Wielki – National Opera in Warsaw (Poland). Tomasz Bińkowski is a professor of the Chopin University of Music where he leads the French horn class.
Photo: Aleksandra Kamińska – Yasne Studio
Julia Samojło
Doctor of Musical Arts, winner of Fryderyk 2024 phonographic award for a collective album “Władysław Żeleński – complete songs” (published by SPMK), which includes over twenty songs recorded in duets with Magdalena Molendowska and Ewa Leszczyńska. She has performed dozens of premieres of contemporary Polish and British works, including Krzysztof Baculewski’s 12 Etudes for Piano at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 2007 and Edward Nesbit’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, written for her, with the New Music Orchestra conducted by Szymon Bywalec in 2017. In December 2025, SPMK will release her new album with works by Roman Ryterband. Julia Samojło has performed in many countries in Europe and the United States, in venues such as Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Koninklijk Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St John’s Smith Square in London, Rudolfinum in Prague, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, National Philharmonic in Warsaw. As a soloist, she has performed with Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Polish Radio Orchestra, the New Music Orchestra, and the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Łukasz Borowicz, Krzesimir Dębski, Jacek Kaspszyk, Alexander Liebreich, Szymon Bywalec, and Marek Mos. She graduated from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the class of Prof. Tatiana Szebanowa. She then completed an artistic internship under the supervision of Prof. Szábolcs Esztényi and postgraduate and doctoral studies under the artistic supervision of Prof. Maja Nosowska at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. She developed her skills with Ronan O’Hora, Graham Johnson and Pamela Lidiard at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as part of an Erasmus scholarship and then a two-year prestigious award – Guildhall Artist Fellowship. She has been awarded, among others, with the first prize at the International Competition for Young Performers in Athens, the Prime Minister’s scholarship, scholarships from the Mayor of Szczecin, the Mayor of Bydgoszcz, and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. She is the president of the Warsaw branch of the Association of Polish Chamber Musicians and works as a cooperative pianist at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
Photo: Anita Wąsik – Płocińska
Magdalena Bojanowicz
regarded as one of the most outstanding instrumentalists of her generation, has for years been appreciated by audiences and critics alike for her beautiful sound and noble expression as well as the uncompromising nature of her interpretations. She has performed at venues including: Tonhalle in Zurich, Royal Festival Hall in London, Kolarac People’s University building in Belgrade, the Conservatory in Moscow, the Philharmonic in Lviv, the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the National Forum of Music, and many philharmonic halls throughout Poland. Poland’s most distinguished composers – Paweł Szymański, Hanna Kulenty, Aleksander Nowak, and Dariusz Przybylski – have dedicated their works for cello and orchestra to her. Her repertoire also includes a vast number of premieres of solo and chamber works. In 2021, she recorded a monographic album featuring compositions by Cezary Duchnowski for cello and electronics. The cellist’s repertoire is not limited solely to contemporary music, as evidenced by the album Fairy Tale recorded with pianist Radosław Kurek, which features compositions by Strauss, Janáček, Poulenc, Webern, Dutilleux, and Ibert, as well as an album of chamber music by Elsner, Krogulski, and Dobrzyński. As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras including: the National Philharmonic, NOSPR, Leopoldinum Orchestra, Wrocław Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Cracovia, AUKSO, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as: M. Caldi, G. Tchitchinadze, D. Smith, V. Schmidt-Gertenbach, R. Rivolta, M. Moś, M. Diakun, M. Klauza, T. Wojciechowski, J. Kosek, M. Nesterowicz, P. Przytocki, W. Rodek, A. Klocek, B. Suđić, B. Lack, E. Kovacic, J. M. Florêncio, and W. Michniewski. She is a laureate of the Polityka Passport – an award given by Polityka weekly magazine to creators and cultural figures. She won first prize at the XLV International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade (2015), and is also the recipient of second prize and two special prizes at the VIII International Witold Lutosławski Competition in Warsaw. She also received third prize at the I International Krzysztof Penderecki Cello Competition in Cracow. Among her other competition successes are second prize at the LXIX International Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Competition in Hradec Králové (Czech Republic) and an honorable mention at the LXIV International Prague Spring Competition. She is also a finalist of the International Cello Competition in Stuttgart (2014). She has numerous awards in chamber music competitions to her credit, together with pianist Mischa Kozłowski and with partners from the Chopin Piano Quintet. Magdalena Bojanowicz graduated with distinction from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the cello class of Andrzej Bauer and Bartosz Koziak, and from the Universität der Künste in Berlin in the class of Jens Peter Maintz.
Photo: Wojciech Grzędziński
Andrzej Ciepliński
is a Polish clarinetist, renowned for his original interpretations and extraordinary musical sensitivity. As a soloist, Ciepliński regularly performs with leading orchestras such as the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, the M. Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, and the Polish Radio Orchestra. At the same time, he actively pursues chamber music, collaborating with esteemed artists including Julian Rachlin, Claudio Bohórquez, Janusz Wawrowski, Sào Soulez Larivière, Tymoteusz Bies, Szymon Nehring, and Anastasia Kobekina. Continuing the legacy of his grandfather, the legendary Polish trombonist Juliusz Pietrachowicz, Ciepliński explores new modes of expression and expands the standard clarinet repertoire through collaborating with composers and creating new arrangements. In 2024, he headlined the Polin Music Festival performing the world premiere of the Clarinet Concerto “Tfiles”, composed for him by American composer, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Alex Weiser. His debut album Irrberge (DUX, 2022) features his own transcription of Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. The album was nominated for the 2023 Fryderyk Award. Andrzej Ciepliński is a recipient of the Kościuszko Foundation scholarship, through which he completed a three-month residency at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, developing his original project Disturb the Silence, a concert exploring the history of Jewish musicians from the former Galicia region. During this residency Ciepliński received mentorship from acclaimed klezmer, classical and jazz clarinetist David Krakauer. Ciepliński graduated with honors from the class of François Benda at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel. He is also an alumnus of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied under Professor Arkadiusz Adamski. He has been awarded the title Primus Inter Pares.
Photo: Michał Ignar
Mischa Kozłowski
pianist, soloist and chamber musician, associate professor at The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland (Phd diploma obtained in 2022). Laureate of the Fryderyk Prize (2024) – the most prestigious prize of the Polish recording industry – for the album „Władysław Żeleński – complete songs” (released by the Polish Chamber Musicians Association) where he recorded more than 20 songs with his brother Karol Kozłowski (tenor). He started to play the piano at the ago of 7 with Julita Randazzo in Gdynia, his hometown. As a young talent he continued his musical development with renowned Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń with whom he worked for nine years. He studied in Warsaw with Piotr Paleczny, Maciej Paderewski, Jerzy Marchwiński and Katarzyna Jankowska-Borzykowska, then in Bern (Switzerland) with Tomasz Herbut, Patrick Jüdt and Monika Urbaniak-Lisik. Top prizewinner of piano and chamber music competitions in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Ukraine. He performed in most of European countries, as well as in Israel, Tunisia, UAE, Japan and China. As a soloist with orchestra he made his debut at the age of 9. He had an opportunity to give concerts at most of the philharmonic and concert halls in Poland and in many important venues all over the world as National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (China), Rohm Theatre in Kyoto (Japan), Flagey in Brussels (Belgium), National Philharmonic in Kyiv (Ukraine), UNESCO in Paris (France), Moscow Philharmonic (Russia), Konzerthaus „Kultur-Casino”, Zentrum Paul Klee and Yehudi Menuhin Forum in Bern (Switzerland). He was awarded many special prizes and scholarships as these by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, LYRA Stiftung, Rita Zimmermann Musik-Stiftung, Fondazione Pro Libertas et Humanitas Kasimir Bartkowiak, Dongsan Research Foundation, Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Polish Children’s Fund among others. The artist often gives masterclass, he also cooperates with The Polish Children’s Fund supporting the most talented young musicians in his mother country. He regularly records for Polish & international radio or television stations. He takes part in projects combining music with movie, theatre, painting and other art disciplines.
Photo: Karpati&Zarewicz
MUSICA SACRA Choir was founded in 2002. Since 2004, it has functioned as the choir of the Warsaw-Praga Cathedral. The ensemble specializes in sacred music from all periods, with a particular focus on Romantic and contemporary repertoire. It has received acclaim for its performances of Gregorian chant as well as gospel music, and it has also participated in large-scale vocal and instrumental productions. In collaboration with various artistic agencies, MUSICA SACRA has taken part in numerous prestigious events, including the Festival of Polish Culture in Italy, the 19th Festival des Cathédrales in France, Polska.lu in Luxembourg, Wratislavia Cantans, the Laboratory of Contemporary Music in Warsaw, the Gaude Mater International Festival of Sacred Music in Częstochowa, and the Film and Arts Festival in Kazimierz Dolny. The choir has toured extensively abroad, performing in the United States, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, and France. It has also given concerts for PWM Edition (Polish Music Publishers), the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the Białystok Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finance Academy, and Yamaha Promusica. One of the ensemble’s recent highlights was a series of twenty performances of a jazz-inspired Stabat Mater in collaboration with renowned Polish jazz pianist Włodek Pawlik. Following a national tour in Polish churches, the work was also presented at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome and at festivals in Germany, including Wege durch das Land at Schloss Corvey and Altstadtherbst in Düsseldorf. The composition was released on the choir’s debut CD (Musica Sacra Edition 001), dedicated to Pope John Paul II. The discography of MUSICA SACRA comprises thirteen CDs and one DVD. Five of these have received the prestigious Fryderyk Award of the Polish recording industry. The recordings include Misterium Stabat Mater by Włodek Pawlik, Liebeslieder Walzer by Brahms and Duette by Mendelssohn, Arcydzieła Muzyki Chóralnej, Gorzkie Żale by Stanisław Moryto, Laudate Dominum, Requiem by John Rutter, Prayer, Musica Caelestis, Polskie Pastorałki, Pie Jesu, Moniuszko – Sacred Music, Benedictus XVI in Honorem, Missa Brevis, and Marian Sawa – Carols and Sacred Works. The choir’s distinctions include the Award of the City of St. Quentin (for the most outstanding performance of a contemporary work) at the Concours Européen de Choeurs et Maîtrises de Cathédrales in France (2006). In 2007, the ensemble was invited by the Paderewski Symphony Orchestra to participate in a performance of Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago.
www.musicasacra.com.pl
Photo: Piotr Dłubak
Paweł Łukaszewski
Born in Częstochowa in 1968, he graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he studied cello and composition (with Marian Borkowski, graduating with distinction). He also completed a postgraduate course in choral conducting at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. Since 1996, he has been a faculty member at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. In 2000, he obtained a Ph.D. in composition (supervised by Professor Marian Borkowski), and in 2014, he was awarded the title of Professor of Musical Arts. He has delivered lectures in Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Norway, and the Vatican. From 2016 to 2024, he served as Vice-Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He has received numerous commissions from both Poland and abroad (including Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland) and has been awarded several grants, among others from the Częstochowa Town Council, the ZAiKS Authors’ and Composers’ Association, the Arts Promotion Fund of the Ministry of Culture, and the President of Warsaw. He is the recipient of many honors, including the Officer’s Cross and the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of Regained Independence, the Mayor of Częstochowa Award for outstanding compositional achievements, the Rector’s Award from the Warsaw Music Academy, the Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski Award for achievements in composition, conducting, and the organization of musical life, as well as the Gloria Artis Bronze and Silver Medals for Merit to Culture. He has also received the Award of the Primate of Poland, the Per Artem ad Deum Medal of the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Totus Tuus Award, and the Fryderyk Award — thirteen times. His works have been performed at over 150 festivals in Poland and abroad, including in the United Kingdom, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Moldova, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, the Vatican, and the United States. His discography includes over 120 CDs (with labels such as Hyperion, Ondine, Warner Classics, Acte Préalable, DUX, Musica Sacra Edition, Signum Records, and Naxos). More than fifty of his works have been published in the United Kingdom (Chester Music / Novello), Poland (PWM Edition), Germany (Edition Ferrimontana, Carus Verlag), and the United States (Walton Music). He has served as Director of the International Festival Laboratory of Contemporary Music and President of the Musica Sacra Institute. He is a member of the ZAiKS Association of Authors and Composers and has served on the juries of composition competitions in Poland and abroad. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Musica Sacra Choir at Warsaw-Praga Cathedral and also serves as Artistic Director of the annual Joy & Devotion Festival in London.
www.lukaszewski.org.uk
Photo: Yulia Pecceu
Paweł Głowiński
music organiser, organist, improviser, conductor, composer, creator and director of music festivals. In 2005, he graduated from the Toruń Diocese Church Music College. He is the founder and conductor of Schola Cantorum Thorunensis, a vocal ensemble promoting early and contemporary sacred music in particular. He became famous as a promoter of Gregorian chant, leading Gregorian choirs and participating as a conductor in large international music projects. As an organist, he especially enjoys performing 19th- and 20th-century French organ music. However, organ improvisation occupies a special place among his musical interests. He collaborates as an improviser with outstanding instrumentalists, singers, improvisers and jazz musicians, creating unusual projects combining the sound of the organ with Gregorian chant, electronics, electric violin, bass clarinet, saxophone, harmonica and folk instruments. He is very active as a concert performer, giving several dozen concerts a year in Poland and abroad. Since 2017, he has been the director of one of the oldest and largest organ music festivals in Poland – the St John's Organ Festival, which covers two provinces and four dioceses. He is the founder and director of the Warsaw-Prague Sacred Music Festival Musica Sacra and the Marian Sawa International Organ Festival WarSAWA in Warsaw. He is the president of the Cultura Vera association, which is widely involved in promoting culture. He has created numerous international and nationwide music projects in both classical and popular music: Gregorian Priests, Ex Tempore, Mysterium de Montserrat, Gregorian Grace, Voci e Violini, Wodecki Welcome To and Maleńki Znak – a grand concert tour celebrating the 90th anniversary of the First Lady of Polish Song – Irena Santor. He collaborates as a conductor, composer and arranger with
the biggest stars of the Polish popular music scene, such as: Alicja Majewska, Irena Santor, Michał Bajor, Krzysztof Cugowski, Zdzisława Sośnicka, Olga Maroszek, Ania Dąbrowska, Igor Herbut, Włodzimierz Korcz, Andrzej Poniedzielski and Artur Andrus. He regularly performs at the most important concert halls throughout Poland. He collaborates with Polish Radio and Polish Television. In 2023, he created and became the conductor and artistic director of the fully professional vocal ensemble Polyphonics, which in 2025 was officially announced by the First Lady of Polish Song, Irena Santor, as the heir to her entire musical oeuvre.