Fundacja Musica
ROYAL ŁAZIENKI · WARSAW
CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

Klasyka Warszawy

In a city full of voices, find a space to listen.

Discover the Festival
Klasyka Warszawy — musicians in the windows of the Palace on the IsleA drawing of the façade inspired by a photograph. Sixteen artists’ portraits in the windows, columns and the palace reflected in the water. Choose a window to meet an artist.Noé InuiMarta KowalczykVassilis VarvaresosDaniel PalmizioOlga KowalczykRoksana KwaśnikowskaJan SnakowskiŁukasz ChrzęszczykXiaotong WangMaria SławekSebastian KozubElla van PouckeMaciej BurdzyNicolas van PouckeErica PiccottiRiccardo Zamuner
PALACE ON THE ISLE · CHOOSE A WINDOW, MEET AN ARTIST
01 / ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Great music.
An extraordinary setting.
Concerts open to all.

Klasyka Warszawy is a classical music festival established in 2024 by Fundacja Musica, organised in partnership with the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw.

The festival stages at the Palace on the Isle and the Royal Theatre welcome outstanding artists from Poland and abroad alongside young Polish instrumentalists at the beginning of their careers. Music fills these historic interiors, inviting a wide audience to listen together.

Klasyka Warszawy brings performances of Polish music together with the European repertoire. The festival formed part of the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is supported by collaboration between artistic and academic communities, the patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Chopin University of Music, and the media partnership of TVP Kultura.

Free admission invites everyone to be part of this shared space: those who already know classical music well and those who are only beginning to find their own connection with it.

Meet Fundacja Musica ↗
02 / PROGRAMMES OF ALL EDITIONS

Editions.
The Festival’s history.

Choose a year and explore the festival programme.

3RD EDITION · ARCHIVE

Europe in musical dialogue

18–27 February 2026

18FEB 202618:00 · Palace on the Isle · Ballroom

Mozart Duos

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Mozart: Duos for violin and viola, K. 423 and K. 424.

Marta Kowalczyk · Daniel Palmizio

Past concert Watch the recording
21FEB 202618:00 · Palace on the Isle · Ballroom

Chopin & Zarębski

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Chopin: Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, arranged for viola and piano. Zarębski: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 34.

Daniel Palmizio · Łukasz Chrzęszczyk · Roksana Kwaśnikowska · Xiaotong Wang · Jan Snakowski · Sebastian Kozub

Past concert Watch the recording
26FEB 202618:00 · Old Orangery · Royal Theatre

Europe in musical dialogue

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Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21. Mendelssohn: Concerto in D minor for violin, piano and string orchestra. Theodorakis: Sonatina for violin and piano.

Vassilis Varvaresos · Noé Inui · Daniel Palmizio · Festival Chamber Orchestra

Past concert Watch the recording
27FEB 202618:00 · Old Orangery · Royal Theatre

The Lark Ascending

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Elgar: Elegy, Op. 58, and Serenade in E minor, Op. 20. Britten: Lachrymae, Op. 48. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending.

Marta Kowalczyk · Daniel Palmizio · Festival Chamber Orchestra

Past concert Watch the recording
03 / FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Musical personalities.
Our artists.

✳

Artists from different editions of Klasyka Warszawy. Choose a portrait to meet the artist — see their photograph and read their biography.

04 / ROYAL ŁAZIENKI

A stage steeped in history.
Live music.

Agrykola 1, Warsaw View on the map ↗

05 / FESTIVAL IN THE MEDIA

Festival in the media.Previews, reports and conversations.

Polish RadioDWÓJKAAUDIO · 09:58
Dwójka article illustration: poster of the 2nd Klasyka Warszawy Festival
WYBIERAM DWÓJKĘ · 15.04.2025

Concerts in an extraordinary setting

Monika Zając talks to Marta Kowalczyk about the 2nd Klasyka Warszawy Festival.

Listen to the conversation
Austrian Cultural Forum
Mozart: Duos for violin and viola
Austrian Cultural Forum

Mozart: Duos for violin and viola

Preview of Marta Kowalczyk and Daniel Palmizio’s concert.

Read the article
Marcin Zgliński FACEBOOK
REVIEW · FACEBOOK

Impressions from the concert

Marcin Zgliński’s post about a festival concert.

Read on Facebook
Magazyn Ambasador
Concert photograph published in Magazyn Ambasador
REPORT · 2ND EDITION · 23.07.2025

A musical gem of the festival

A report on Noé Inui’s concert at the Royal Theatre on 17 April 2025.

Read the report
Warsaw Now!
PREVIEW · 1ST EDITION · 12.10.2024

The first edition of Klasyka Warszawy

An article about the concerts that launched the festival at the Royal Łazienki.

Read the article
06 / ORGANISER AND PARTNERS

Media partner

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Marta Kowalczyk

Violin

Marta Kowalczyk was born in Koszalin in 1991. A recipient of the Magna Cum Laude medal and winner of international violin competitions, she is a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

She began learning the violin at the age of seven at the Grażyna Bacewicz Music School in Koszalin. She graduated with distinction from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, studying with Jan Stanienda; the Royal Academy of Music in London, with György Pauk; and the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, with Salvatore Accardo.

In September 2015, with pianist Łukasz Chrzęszczyk, she won the Grand Prix and two special prizes at the 1st International Chamber Music Competition in Lusławice. Her distinctions also include awards at Eurovision Young Musicians, first prize and the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth special prize for outstanding artistic individuality at the International Violin Competition in Bled, Slovenia, and first prize and special prizes at the P. Konjović International Competition in Belgrade. In 2014 she won the Bach Solo Violin Prize in London and received a special prize at the China International Violin Competition in Qingdao.

Marta Kowalczyk has received scholarships and awards from the Polish Children’s Fund, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, the Stephen Bell Trust, the Kirckman Concert Society, the Park Lane Group, the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation, the Pro Polonia Society and the Młoda Polska scholarship programme.

She has performed in most European countries, China, South Korea, Canada and the USA. She has appeared frequently with the Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra, and also with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra at the Chopin and His Europe Festival under Antoni Wit, Sinfonia Varsovia under Jacek Kasprzyk, the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Radio Orchestra, and the Kraków, Opole and Zielona Góra philharmonic orchestras.

Her solo appearances include the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Chopin and His Europe, Busan Maru in South Korea, Musica di Collina in Lapedona, Italy, the Salerno Festival, the Chamber Music Festival in León, Spain, Evenings at the Arsenal in Wrocław, the Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój and many others.

In 2013, Marta Kowalczyk and pianist Somi Kim gave the UK premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Violin Sonata at London’s Southbank Centre. The duo has also performed repeatedly at Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St James’s Piccadilly in London, Westminster Abbey and the Museo del Violino in Cremona. In 2016 the duo made its debut at Amsterdam’s renowned Concertgebouw.

Since 2017, Marta has been concertmaster of the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Daniel Palmizio

Conductor/Viola

An Italian-British conductor, violist and teacher, and a prizewinner at numerous prestigious competitions. His awards include first prizes at the International Competition in Budapest, the Watson Forbes Competition in Scotland and the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome. He studied and later taught at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and the Royal College of Music in London. He subsequently studied viola with Bruno Giuranna and conducting with Donato Renzetti.

From 2014 to 2016 he was principal viola of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London under Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Daniel Palmizio made his conducting debut with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2016. He regularly conducts the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Filarmonica Rossini, Filarmonica Abruzzese, Ulster Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra in Szeged, Hungary, the Kyiv Opera Orchestra and the Basel Symphony Orchestra. A committed chamber musician, he regularly performs with artists including Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Giuranna, Antonio Meneses, Nigel Kennedy and Maxim Vengerov.

For the Zephir label he recorded a double CD of the complete sonatas for viola and piano by Bach and Brahms. With Donato Renzetti he recorded Bartók’s Viola Concerto.

He plays a Testore viola from 1800, kindly loaned by the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Roksana Kwaśnikowska

Violin

Soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

In 2018 she graduated with distinction from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where she studied with her mentor, the legendary violinist Professor Jan Stanienda, receiving the Magna Cum Laude medal. In 2023 she earned a doctorate in the arts and won a Fryderyk Award in the solo album category for “Rode: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin”.

She has won numerous prizes at prestigious national and international competitions, including the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Sion, the 1st Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition in Katowice, the Ludwig van Beethoven International Competition in Hradec, the Michał Spisak International Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza and the Tadeusz Wroński International Solo Violin Competition in Warsaw.

Her solo performances have been acclaimed across Europe — France, Estonia, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland and Austria — as well as in China, South Korea, Japan and North America. She has performed twice at New York’s Carnegie Hall. As a soloist she has appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and many others.

Alongside her solo career, she is deeply committed to chamber music, working with outstanding musicians in several ensembles. Since 2019 she has been first violinist of the Lutosławski Quartet. She also plays in the Chopin Piano Quintet, the Chromatophonic Trio and the Tansman Trio.

She is an assistant in the violin department at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

Roksana plays a violin made by Johann Augustin Wagner in 2009.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Łukasz Chrzęszczyk

Piano

He graduated from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in 2014, studying piano with Piotr Paleczny and piano chamber music with Maja Nosowska. He earned his doctorate in the arts in 2018. He has taught at the University since 2014 and currently holds the position of assistant professor.

His awards include the Grand Prix and all special prizes at the 1st Ludwig van Beethoven International Chamber Music Competition in Lusławice (2015), and prizes at the Johannes Brahms (2012), Kiejstut Bacewicz (2013) and Stanisław Moniuszko (2019) international chamber music competitions. A three-time Fryderyk nominee, he won the Muzyczny Orzeł 2022 award for his album of Prokofiev’s works for violin and piano, recorded with Jakub Jakowicz.

As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, the NOSPR concert hall in Katowice and philharmonic halls in Bratislava, Milan and Warsaw, where he appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

His discography includes recordings for Polish Radio and TVP Kultura and seven albums released by Chopin University Press, Orphée Classics and DUX. His album “Departures”, recorded with Jakub Jakowicz and released in March, features works by Malawski, Bacewicz, Górecki, Silvestrov and Szymanowski.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Noé Inui

Violin

Born in Brussels in 1985 to Greek and Japanese parents, the violinist has lived in Düsseldorf since 2006. He began playing the violin at four and graduated from conservatoires in Brussels, Paris, Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf.

Noé Inui has won numerous international competitions. He received the Young Talent special prize at the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2005, the Louis Spohr Medal in 2007 and the Young Concert Artists award in New York in 2009. At the Verbier Festival Academy in 2012 he received the prestigious Prix Julius Bär for an exceptionally talented musician. In 2020 the Concertgebouw selected him as one of its Classical Futures Europe Artists.

As a soloist, Noé Inui regularly performs with renowned orchestras across Europe, at venues including Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Cologne Philharmonie, Gasteig in Munich, Muziektheater Amsterdam, Megaron in Athens and Palau de la Música in Barcelona. His repertoire includes the major violin concertos as well as less frequently performed works such as Bartók’s Second Concerto and concertos by Korngold, Milhaud, Weill and Hartmann.

Since 2011, Noé Inui has toured Japan at least twice a year, appearing as a soloist with the Nagoya Philharmonic and Japan Philharmonic orchestras and at numerous festivals. He made his Tokyo debut in 2012 with the Japan Philharmonic in Mendelssohn’s Concerto and performed Tchaikovsky’s Concerto with the same orchestra at Suntory Hall.

Noé Inui has worked with conductors including Andrey Boreyko, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Joel, Daniel Inbal, Paul Meyer, Dennis Russell Davies, Pablo González, Ken-David Masur and Nikolai Alexeev. He has appeared with the Belgian National Orchestra, Braunschweig State Orchestra, Bremerhaven Philharmonic, Lithuanian State Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and the Athens and Thessaloniki state symphony orchestras.

As a chamber musician he has shared the stage with Julien Quentin, Martha Argerich and Leonidas Kavakos. Through the Young Concert Artists Series he performed at major US venues including Merkin Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

With Greek pianist Vassilis Varvaresos, Noé Inui regularly performs in the USA, Asia and across Europe. In February 2016 the duo appeared in the Kleine Zaal of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. With Varvaresos and German cellist Benedict Kloeckner, he forms the acclaimed Trio Bell’Arte.

With Varvaresos, violist Daniel Palmizio and cellist Ella van Poucke, Noé is a member of the Corneille Piano Quartet. The quartet regularly performs in leading Dutch venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam, De Vereeniging in Nijmegen, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven and the Philharmonie in Haarlem.

Noé Inui has recorded seven albums, including collaborations with pianists Vassilis Varvaresos and Mario Häring and his former Trio Carlo van Neste. His latest album on ARS features the complete solo violin sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe. Released in November 2019 and presented in several European cities, it also includes the world-premiere recording of Ysaÿe’s Étude-Poème, Op. 9, for violin and piano. The album was widely acclaimed: The Strad named it Recording of the Month in March 2020, and it received an Opus Klassik special-award nomination.

Noé Inui plays a 1764 violin by Tommaso Balestrieri of Mantua.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Vassilis Varvaresos

Piano

Greek pianist Vassilis Varvaresos, born in Thessaloniki in 1983, became the youngest-ever winner of the Young Concert Artists competition in New York in 1998, aged fourteen. His recital debuts in New York and Washington were widely acclaimed; a Washington Post headline described him as a “young master on the rise”. He is also a prizewinner of the 2014 Enescu Competition in Bucharest and the 2015 Monte Carlo Piano Masters.

He has given solo recitals at Tonhalle Zürich, Megaron Athens and the Musikverein in Vienna, and has appeared repeatedly at Salle Gaveau in Paris. Festival invitations include the Chopin Festival in Nohant, Lisztomanias in Châteauroux, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, the Enescu Festival, Festival des Arcs, Classique au Vert in Paris, the György Cziffra Foundation’s Liszt Dream Festival and the Athens Festival. In 2022 he joined violinist Leonidas Kavakos at Athens Megaron Hall for a benefit concert for Ukraine.

Recent performances include Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto with the Athens State Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach. In the preceding season he performed Prokofiev’s Second Concerto at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus for the Athens Epidaurus Festival; Rachmaninoff’s Third in Thessaloniki and Timișoara; both Mendelssohn concertos with the Orchestre International de Genève under Lucie Leguay; Chopin’s Second with the Orchestre de Normandie; Tchaikovsky’s First with the Freiburg Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra; Prokofiev’s Second with the Bilkent Symphony and Fourth with the St Petersburg Chamber Orchestra; and Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand with the Bremerhaven Philharmonic.

Vassilis Varvaresos works with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Alexander Shelley, Justus Frantz, Ovidiu Marinescu, Dionysis Grammenos, Lucie Leguay, Alexandre Bloch and Vassilis Christopoulos.

A dedicated chamber musician, he has also appeared at Bozar in Brussels, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Diligentia in The Hague and Gasteig in Munich. His regular collaborators include French musicians Ophélie Gaillard, Michel Dalberto, Yan Levionnois, Henri Demarquette and Nicolas Dautricourt, violinist Noé Inui and cellists Ella van Poucke and Anastasia Kobekina.

Since his US debut at fifteen, he has given recitals at major New York venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and the Morgan Library, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington. His first solo recital at Carnegie Hall in March 2012 was followed by an invitation from President Obama to perform at the White House. He represented Greece with the Athens State Orchestra at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was named “Most Promising Young Greek Artist” by the Greek Critics’ Association.

He holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal, Yoheved Kaplinsky and Robert McDonald. He also completed the prestigious Diplôme d'Artiste-Interprète at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris under Michel Dalberto.

His latest solo album, “V for Valse”, was released in 2018 by Aparté Records in France.

Alongside his extensive career as a pianist, Paris-based Vassilis Varvaresos is also a composer. He has written music for ten films and several television series, and is the author of “Departure From the Functionality of Syntax”, which received the Scholastic Distinction Award at the Juilliard School.

Vassilis Varvaresos holds professorships at music conservatoires in Athens and Thessaloniki.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Olga Kowalczyk

Viola

Olga Kowalczyk is a violist, chamber musician and teacher. Born in 1993, she is a prizewinner of international viola competitions and a multiple award-winning chamber musician.

She graduated with distinction from the Bern University of the Arts in Switzerland, studying with Ryszard Groblewski; the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, with Veronika Hagen; and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with Sven Arne Tepl and Richard Wolfe.

Since 2019 Olga Kowalczyk has been a member of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. Committed to music education, she is regularly invited to teach at the Lucerne School of Music and coordinates programmes for future generations of musicians, including the Lucerne Orchestra Academy. She also organises charitable initiatives supporting children in music schools in countries in need, including Bangkok, Thailand.

She is regularly invited to work with orchestras including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bern Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Zürich. An active chamber musician, she performs in leading European venues such as KKL Luzern and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Her touring schedule for the season includes South Korea, Thailand and South America.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Maciej Burdzy

Violin

Born in Warsaw, he received a bachelor’s degree with distinction from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, studying with Julia Jakimowicz-Jakowicz (2011), and a master’s degree with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London (2014), where he studied with Levon Chilingirian.

He also developed his playing with Maxim Vengerov, György Pauk, Krzysztof and Jakub Jakowicz, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Daniel Hope, Thomas Brandis, Igor Petrushevski and Clio Gould.

He held scholarships from the Centre for Artistic Education in Warsaw, the Leverhulme Foundation, the Oetker Foundation, the Worswick Trust and the Myerscough Trust.

His awards include the D’Addario String Prize at the North London Festival, the Dorothy Kennedy Davis Award, the Thomas C. Fitton Will Trust–Hovis Prize for the best string graduation recital at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Regency Award.

In 2013 he was selected for the LSO String Scheme, performing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican under Valery Gergiev and Daniel Harding. He participated in numerous Royal Academy of Music orchestral projects, almost always as concertmaster, working with Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Mark Elder, Marin Alsop, Maxim Vengerov and Clio Gould.

Maciej has held leading positions in European orchestras since 2015: first as principal second violin in the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa and at Opernhaus Zürich, then as concertmaster of the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and, since 2020, of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

He plays an instrument made for him by Philipp Augustin in Staufen in 2021.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Maria Sławek

Violin

Violinist, teacher and researcher. She combines concert performance with academic interests, social engagement and artistic projects.

Co-founder and president of the Mieczysław Weinberg Institute, she holds a habilitation in the arts. She leads her own violin class at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków and also teaches at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

She also teaches Poland’s only original course in the History of Jewish Music, as part of the postgraduate Polish–Jewish Studies programme at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

As a soloist she has performed with most Polish symphony orchestras, including the Warsaw Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish Radio Orchestra and the Kraków Philharmonic.

Her performances have taken her to Israel, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Ukraine, Romania, Spain and the USA.

In the 2017/18 season she was artist-in-residence at the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków through a programme of the Institute of Music and Dance.

Mieczysław Weinberg’s music has held a special place in her life for many years. In 2011 she began doctoral research on his works for violin and piano. In 2015, with pianist Piotr Różański, she released “Weinberg — Sonatas for Violin and Piano” on CD Accord.

In 2020 she and Ania Karpowicz established the Mieczysław Weinberg Institute (www.instytutwajnberga.org). She co-created projects including “Domówka u Mietka”, “Spacerownik Warszawa Wajnberga” and “Pocztówka do Mietka”. Her repertoire includes most of Weinberg’s works for violin with orchestra and with piano.

She has published with the Jewish Historical Institute and the Chopin University of Music, in the annual “Zagłada Żydów” and in Poland’s oldest music periodical, “Ruch Muzyczny”. She collaborates with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, and regularly appears on Polish Radio Programme 2’s “Duża Czarna”.

Her album “Rejoice”, recorded with cellist Marcin Zdunik, was released in 2019. It received excellent reviews in Poland and abroad, and a limited vinyl edition followed in 2020.

Her album “TIKTIN” was scheduled for release by Orphée Classics in 2024. Recorded live at the Great Synagogue in Tykocin with the Lutosławski Quartet and double bassist Tomasz Januchta, it features music by Andrzej Panufnik, J. S. Bach and Mieczysław Weinberg.

Maria Sławek has repeatedly received scholarships from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, including through the Młoda Polska programme. In 2021 she received a City of Warsaw artistic scholarship, which enabled her to create arrangements of Weinberg’s songs for voice and string trio and translations of poems from Yiddish.

Since 2022 she has been the creator and curator of “Dialogues — Musical Encounters in Historic Artists’ Studios”, a distinctive series of micro-concerts in spaces associated with outstanding Warsaw artists.

Maria Sławek was born in Gdańsk in 1988. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków, where she studied with Wiesław Kwaśny. She received her doctorate in 2015 and her habilitation in the arts in 2020.

She plays a violin by R&M Millant (Paris, 1961).

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Ella van Poucke

Cello

Born in Amsterdam in 1994, she is one of the outstanding cellists of her generation.

Praised for her musical integrity, exceptional instrumental command and stage presence, the 28-year-old Dutch cellist maintains an intensive concert schedule and is among the leading musicians of her generation.

Following her Concertgebouw debut at the age of ten, she performed in all the major Dutch venues and in many leading concert halls across Europe, the USA and Asia.

Her honours include the Premio Chigiana 2017, first prize at the 2015 Isang Yun International Cello Competition, the Grachtenfestival Prize, the Leopoldinum Award 2015, the Prix Nicolas Firmenich 2013, the Elisabeth Everts Award 2014 and the Prix Académie Maurice Ravel 2012.

In 2012 Ella van Poucke was named Dutch Musician of the Year. She also received a special prize recognising her outstanding performance at the 2014 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann.

As a soloist she has appeared with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Brussels Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Rotterdam Philharmonic Strings, Netherlands Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Orchestra della Toscana, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Havana Youth Orchestra, Varsovia Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra, Junge Sinfonie Berlin, Hamburger Camerata and Tongyeong Festival Orchestra. Her collaborators include Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Sanderling and Karina Canellakis.

In November 2012 she gave the world premiere of a new cello concerto written for her by Finnish composer Uljas Pulkkis at the International Cello Biennale in Amsterdam.

In September 2013 she gave the German premiere of the same work at the Kronberg Festival with members of the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt.

Ella van Poucke regularly appears on Dutch radio and television. She has performed for ARTE in Germany and France and appeared on the German programme “Stars von Morgen”, hosted by Rolando Villazón.

A committed chamber musician, she has performed with András Schiff, Gary Hoffman, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, Viviane Hagner, Gidon Kremer, Colin Carr, Pavel Vernikov, Andreas Reiner, Vilde Frang, Simone Lamsma, Christiaan Bor and Philippe Graffin.

For many years she has performed regularly with pianists Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Caspar Vos and her brother Nicolas van Poucke.

Her international festival appearances include Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Krzyżowa Music, Chigiana International Festival, Kaposfest in Hungary, the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Kronberg Festival, Cello Biennale Amsterdam and Verbier Festival Academy.

In summer 2017 she was artist-in-residence with the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, and in August 2018 artist-in-residence at Amsterdam’s Grachtenfestival.

This season she is artist-in-residence of Utrecht’s “Vrijdag van Vredenburg” series, appearing several times as a soloist with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and in chamber music with friends including Gary Hoffman.

In 2019 she performed Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw with her brother Nicolas. In 2018 she toured with Bach’s complete cello suites.

Her debut album, devoted to Schumann, was released in 2020 to international acclaim. Gramophone described it as an impressive album by a soloist whose future performances were eagerly anticipated.

Marking the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth in 2023, her next album was conceived as a tribute to his chamber music, centred on the monumental Cello Sonata recorded with pianist Caspar Vos.

In 2022 Ella was appointed professor of cello at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Born into a musical family, she began playing the cello at six. At ten she entered the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and later continued at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Godfried Hoogeveen.

From 2009 to 2016 she studied with Frans Helmerson in the Kronberg Academy Masters programme in Germany.

From 2016 to 2019 she was artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, studying with Gary Hoffman.

Ella plays a 1620 Maggini cello, loaned by an anonymous benefactor.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Nicolas van Poucke

Piano

A Dutch pianist described by De Volkskrant as a “poet of the piano”.

Born into a family with a rich musical tradition, Nicolas began piano lessons at six and later studied with David Kuyken and Jan Wijn at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He also worked with renowned pianists including Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and Alfred Brendel.

Nicolas van Poucke has maintained an active concert schedule in the Netherlands and abroad since an early age.

He regularly performs as a soloist with European orchestras. In the preceding season he gave extensive recital programmes at venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and De Vereeniging in Nijmegen. He made his debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the Chineke! Orchestra under Roderick Cox, performing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

His discography continues to grow. His latest solo release, “In The Moment”, is a vinyl album featuring two unedited performances of Beethoven sonatas. It received excellent reviews in the Netherlands and abroad for the pianist’s technical skill and emotional depth. His previous album, “The Schumann Collection Vol. I”, also drew outstanding reviews, with critics highlighting his ability to approach Schumann’s musically and psychologically complex world with natural ease. The eagerly awaited “The Schumann Collection Vol. II” was scheduled for release in 2024.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Erica Piccotti

Cello

Erica Piccotti, born in Rome in 1999, is an acclaimed cellist and Warner Classics recording artist. She was awarded the title “Alfiere della Repubblica” by the Italian President.

A versatile soloist and chamber musician, she has won competitions including the Premio Nazionale delle Arti and the International Johannes Brahms Competition. A finalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, she has received numerous prestigious awards, including the ICMA 2020 Young Artist of the Year award.

She regularly appears at festivals such as Verbier and Spoleto and in halls including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Konzerthaus Berlin. Her 2025/26 season includes solo collaborations with the Orchestra del Maggio Fiorentino and I Virtuosi Italiani. She performs with leading artists including Gidon Kremer, Sir András Schiff, Bruno Giuranna and Enrico Pace.

Erica currently studies with Jens Peter Maintz in Berlin, having previously studied with Francesco Storino, Antonio Meneses and Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy.

She plays a cello made by Ettore Soffritti in Ferrara in 1925.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Riccardo Zamuner

Violin

Born in Naples in 1997, he began violin lessons at seven and graduated with distinction from the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples.

He gained a violin diploma with Sonig Tchakerian at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and a Master of Arts at the Conservatory in Lugano, studying with Pavel Berman.

He also attended the prestigious Stauffer Academy in Cremona, studying with Salvatore Accardo.

In 2013 he received the “Civicrazia Napoli per l’eccellenza” award. In 2016 he made his solo debut at the Berlin Philharmonie, performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for two violins and orchestra with violinist Aiman Mussakhajayeva.

A regular chamber performer, he has worked with Bruno Canino, Salvatore Accardo, Mario Brunello, Francesco Fiore, Cecilia Radic, Stefania Redaelli, Giovanni Puddu, David Geringas, Sonig Tchakerian, Bruno Giuranna, Luca Signorini, Ermanno Calzolari, Andrea Maini and Daniele Orlando.

He regularly works with Salvatore Accardo’s Orchestra da Camera Italiana. He is guest concertmaster of the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. He is first violinist of the chamber ensemble I Virtuosi di Sansevero.

He plays a Giuseppe Antonio Rocca violin from 1855, loaned by the Nippon Violin Society.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Jan Snakowski

Viola

Born in 1990, Jan Snakowski is one of the leading violists of his generation. A prizewinner of international solo and chamber music competitions, he is recognised not only as a soloist but also as a highly experienced orchestral musician and teacher.

He studied at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne and the Academy of Music in Kraków, graduating with distinction in violin with Wiesław Kwaśny and viola with Jacek Dumanowski. In 2024 he earned a doctorate in music with a thesis on solo transcriptions in the viola repertoire. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy, where he worked with Tabea Zimmermann, Nobuko Imai and Lawrence Power.

Since winning first prize at the 21st Johannes Brahms International Competition in Pörtschach, he has appeared repeatedly as a soloist with European orchestras. His main specialism today is orchestral music, in which he has extensive experience. While still a student he joined the first violin section of the Kraków Philharmonic. He subsequently spent several years as principal viola with the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana in Lugano (2018–2022) and the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen (2016–2018).

Jan Snakowski is currently a principal player in the orchestra of the Teatr Wielki — Polish National Opera in Warsaw. He is regularly invited as guest principal viola by leading European orchestras including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, working under conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Paavo Järvi, Manfred Honeck and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

As a teacher he has given lessons and masterclasses at the invitation of institutions including the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, Fundación Azteca and the Orchestra of the Americas Group. In 2023 he was teacher-in-residence with the international Sinfónica Azteca education programme in Mexico, and in 2016 he served on the jury of the Johannes Brahms International Competition in Austria.

Jan plays a viola made in Danuta Pawlikowska’s workshop and uses bows by Marcin Siwiec of Kraków.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Xiaotong Wang

Violin

Xiaotong Wang is a violinist whose artistry encompasses solo performance, chamber music and concertmaster roles. Born into a musical family, she began playing at five and soon gained international recognition. In 2019 she won first and second prizes in two different categories at the Hong Kong International String Competition. Since then she has given recitals in China, the United States and Europe.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in violin performance at East China Normal University in Shanghai, then moved to the USA, where she completed a Performance Diploma and a master’s degree in violin at Southern Methodist University. There she studied with Lincoln Center artists Aaron Boyd and Alexander Sitkovetsky, also serving as their assistant.

Her artistic development was further shaped by masterclasses with leading violinists, especially Pinchas Zukerman in 2021, an experience that had a lasting influence on her musicianship. She has also worked with Philippe Quint, Chad Hoopes, Isaac Malkin and David Kim.

Building on these foundations, Xiaotong developed a deep commitment to chamber music. She has collaborated with the Viano and Marmen quartets, violist Ellen Rose and violinist Aaron Boyd. She is the violinist of the E Nulo Piano Trio, with pianist Jan Wachowski and cellist Sebastian Kozub, finalists of the 22nd Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Łódź. She is also a member of the Frigatti Ensemble, whose unconventional instrumentation focuses mainly on contemporary music, appearing at venues including Warsaw’s Chopin Museum, Lublin Castle and concert halls across Poland.

Alongside solo and chamber work, she has served as concertmaster of several US orchestras and collaborated with conductors including Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops, Emmy-winning film and pops conductor Richard Kaufman, former Detroit Symphony assistant conductor Michelle Merrill, Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta, and Paul Phillips, conductor of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and director of orchestral studies at the Meadows School of the Arts.

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Sebastian Kozub

Cello

Sebastian Kozub comes from a family with deep musical traditions: his father is a cellist and his mother a violinist. He began the cello at five, studying at the Purcell School in London with Pál Banda, then at the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas with Andrés Díaz. He currently studies at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw with Tomasz Strahl and Adam Klocek.

He has won prizes at more than fifty national and international cello competitions. Highlights include first prize at the 8th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Croatia, second prize at the V. J. Dotzauer International Cello Competition in Germany, victory at the Flame International Cello Competition in Paris, second prizes in Liezen, Austria, and at the David Popper International Cello Competition in Hungary, and the Grand Prix of the Bohdan Warchal International String Competition in Slovakia.

Sebastian has performed at prestigious venues in Europe, Asia and the Americas, including Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Goldsmiths Theatre, Caruth Auditorium in Dallas, the Royal Castle concert hall in Warsaw and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has worked with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Europe, National Orchestra of China, Kaunas Philharmonic Orchestra, Žilina Symphony Orchestra and Lublin Symphony Orchestra.

As a chamber musician he has shared the stage with Andrés Cárdenes, Teng Li and Aaron Boyd. He is the cellist of the E Nulo Piano Trio, with Jan Wachowski on piano and Xiaotong Wang on violin, finalists of the 22nd Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Łódź.

He is also a member of the Frigatti Ensemble, an ensemble with an unusual instrumental line-up specialising in contemporary music. Its performances include Warsaw’s Chopin Museum, Lublin Castle and many other stages in Poland.

Previously he was cellist of The Julius Quartet, which performed regularly across the United States and held the Peak Fellowship Ensemble residency at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is a co-founder of the non-profit organisation Emerge Coalition.

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