Friday, July 4, 2025, 7:00 PM

Józef Serafin was a student of Prof. Bronisław Rutkowski and Prof. Jan Jargoń (1968 – diploma with distinction, State Higher School of Music in Kraków, today Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków), Prof. Flor Peeters, and Prof. Anton Heiller (1972 – diploma with distinction, Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna). He is a laureate of first prizes, among others at the national organ competition in Warsaw (1967) and the international organ competition in Nuremberg (1972). He has given concerts in almost all European countries, as well as in the USA, Canada, Japan and Kazakhstan. He is the director of international organ and chamber music festivals in Kamień Pomorski and Leżajsk and the international festival of young organists "Juniores Priores" in Sejny. He has served on the jury of many international organ competitions (including Prague, Nuremberg, Paris-Chartres, Mainz, Gdańsk). He is a retired professor of organ classes at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (honorary professor of this university since 2018) and at the Academy of Music in Kraków. In 2016, he received the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" medal from Pope Francis.

String quartet Arte Con Brio was founded in 1999 by artists-musicians from the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz and the Academy of Music in Łódź, who decided to combine their individual experiences and musical inspirations into a new, interesting project, which quickly gained recognition and sparked wide interest in the ensemble. The quartet performs music from the baroque (works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friedrich Händel, Antonio Vivaldi) through classics and romantics (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert) to contemporary works (Karol Szymanowski, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Krzysztof Penderecki) and film (Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Henry Mancini, Wojciech Kilar). The ensemble has performed in Bydgoszcz, Kołobrzeg, Koszalin, Pelplin, Słupsk and in Saint-Etienne in France.

Dorota Nowak graduated with distinction from the Vocal and Acting Department of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in 2020, in the solo singing class of prof. Katarzyna Nowak-Stańczyk. For a decade, she has been working with pianist Tomasz Gumiela. She is a guest soloist at the Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz. Since 2020, she has been working as a voice consultant at the Chamber Choir of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz and conducts individual voice classes for students of the Faculty of Conducting, Jazz and Education there. She is an assistant in the solo singing class of her alma mater. In 2020, she began working with Rafał Gorzycki, recording the CD "Śmierć Pana S" for soprano, viola, piano and electronics.