Friday, June 30, 2023, 7:00 PM

Artists:

Karolina Karkucińska – organ

Maria Sosnowska – violin

Tomasz Szczęsny – cello

In the program:

Biographical notes:

Karolina Karkucińska graduated with distinction from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warszawa (organ class of prof. J. Serafin and dr hab. J. Wróblewski). She is a laureate of organ competitions (Białystok, Krasnobród, Kraków). In 2017, together with M. Wota, she took 3rd place at the International Organ Duets Competition in Nowy Sącz. She participated in many master classes led by, among others, W. Zerer, G. Gnann, U. Walther, B. Haas, J. Gembalski and M. Toporowski. She is a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Tomasz Szczęsny is a graduate of the K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław from the class of prof. St. Firlej (2002). Since 2006 he has been the concertmaster of the cello orchestra of the Szczecin Philharmonic. He has performed as a member of the orchestra and chamber ensembles in the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines and the USA. He is an associate professor at the Academy of Art in Szczecin. Since 2013 he has been a member of the international project Visegrad Cello Quartet, and since 2018 – of the string quartet ExQuartet, with which he regularly gives concerts and records albums.

Maria Sosnowska is a soloist, chamber musician, manager, soloist musician of the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic Orchestra in Szczecin. Graduate of Musikhochschule Lübeck in the class of prof. Maria Egelhof and the G. and K. Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź in the class of prof. Łukasz Błaszczyk. Winner of 2nd prize at the International competition "Bach Solo Competition" in 2021 in Poznań, 2nd place at the 19th International Chamber Music Competition named after K. Bacewicz in Łódź in 2016, 2nd prize at the 3rd International Competition named after W. Radowiczius in Vilnius, distinction at the Competition for Young Violinists "Young Paganini" in Legnica. Winner of the competition by Miami Music Festival (2019, Miami, USA), where as part of the prize she performed as a soloist with the MMF orchestra performing the Violin Concerto by J. Sibelius. In 2017-2018 she was the leader of the Europian Workshop for Contemporary Music, with which she performed many times during the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, concertmaster of the Lutoslavsky Youth Orchestra (2017) and concertmaster of the PRISMA Orchestra (2018, Canada). During concerts and tours she has collaborated with artists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Maximilian Hornung, Jonathan Nott and Lorenzo Viotti. Scholarship holder of the Prime Minister, the Zwierciadło Foundation, the DAAD Stiftung and the Deutschlandstipendium. Apart from her active artistic life, she is also the manager of the first string trio in Poland - the Tansman Trio.

Photo report: