by Michał Mazurkiewicz

POLSKI CHÓR KAMERALNY SCHOLA CANTORUM GEDANENSIS

ranks among the world’s leading chamber choirs. It was founded in 1978 by Ireneusz Łukaszewski and has been led by his brother Jan since 1983. The choir’s repertoire is exceptionally wide-ranging – from a cappella music to large-scale oratorio, opera and symphonic works. The ensemble enjoys a reputation as an unrivalled performer of contemporary music. It has given over 700 world premieres of works by masters such as Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Edward Pałłasz and Paweł Łukaszewski. It is the only ensemble in the world to have all of Krzysztof Penderecki’s a cappella choral works in its repertoire.

The exceptional sound quality of the Polski Chór Kameralny has secured it collaborations with the world’s finest orchestras (including Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, Divino Sospiro, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the Venice Baroque Orchestra) and outstanding choral conductors such as Eric Ericson, Uwe Gronostay and Stephen Layton.

The choir has recorded over 100 CDs. It has also recorded for Polish and international radio and television broadcasters, including TVP, Dutch Radio, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, and ZDF. Its albums have received more than 30 Fryderyk Award nominations and have won the award five times. The ensemble has also received two Orphée d’Or awards, presented by the French Académie du Disque Lyrique for the best choral music recordings. In 2025, to mark the 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth, the choir released a four-disc recording of all the composer’s offertories. The Polski Chór Kameralny Schola Cantorum Gedanensis is a Cultural Institution of the City of Gdańsk. It is also a member of TENSO, the European Association of Professional Chamber Choirs. The choir organises numerous artistic projects, such as the Bach Days, the International Chopin Festival in Gdańsk and the Mozartiana International Mozart Festival.

by Grzegorz Mehring

JAN ŁUKASZEWSKI

conductor and director of the Polski Chór Kameralny, artistic director of the Mozartiana International Mozart Festival, masterclass lecturer, and professor of music – he is regarded as one of Europe’s leading specialists in the field of choral music. In recognition of his artistry as director of the Polski Chór Kameralny, contemporary Polish and foreign composers (including Wojciech Kilar, Krzesimir Dębski, Edward Pałłasz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Paweł Łukaszewski, Andrzej Koszewski and Juliusz Łuciuk) have entrusted him with conducting the world premieres of their works over 700 times.

Jan Łukaszewski has collaborated with, amongst others, the choirs of Polish Radio, the Kraków Philharmonic, the Wrocław Philharmonic and the Silesian Philharmonic. He has worked with such orchestras as Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Venice Baroque Orchestra. In addition to the Polski Chór Kameralny, he also conducted the Pueri Cantores Olivenses Boys’ and Men’s Choir until 2023. He has served on juries for choral competitions in Japan, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as composition competitions in Poland, England, France, Germany and Italy.

He was the first conductor to record the complete a cappella choral works of Krzysztof Penderecki, for which he received the Orphée d’Or award from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in 2010 and 2014. In 2013, he conducted the recording of 55 motets by Andrzej Hakenberger (1574–1627), performed by the Polski Chór Kameralny and the Swiss instrumental ensemble Musica Fiorita. He was the driving force behind events such as the International Choral Music Symposia, Bach Days, the Chopin Festival in Gdańsk and successive editions of the Mozartiana International Mozart Festival. In 2018, Jan Łukaszewski was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In 2021, he received the Golden Fryderyk for outstanding artistic achievements.

JOANNA SOBOWIEC-JAMIOŁ

a lyrical and coloratura soprano, vocalist, choir conductor, and cultural event organiser. She graduated from the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. In 2021, she was distinguished with a special prize at the Bucharest International Jazz Competition. Exploring her broad interests, the artist combines classical music with improvisation and jazz. Since 2011, she has been a member of the Les Femmes ensemble and the “Przystań na Sztukę” Association. Together with the ensemble, she has given over 600 concerts and shows staged at major music festivals across Poland. 

She performs both in her own stage productions, and in projects which combine different musical styles. She cooperates with outstanding musicians representing the circles of classical, improvised, and jazz music. Her professional output also includes numerous phonographic recordings. She has cooperated with such artists as Bogusław Grabowski (organist), Rafał Tworek (jazz pianist), Cyprian Wieczorkowski/Lud Hauza Music Producers, or Jacek Bratke’s Capella Cistercian. In 2019, she received the Mayor of Pruszcz Gdański Award for her cultural activities.

by Dawid Linkowski

BOGUSŁAW GRABOWSKI

organist and composer born in 1955 in Sopot. Today, he is a full professor at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk (aMuz), where he teaches e.g. organ performance, harmony in practice, liturgical accompaniment, organ improvisation, as well as the structure of the organ with musical acoustics. He is the founder of the Department of Church Music aMuz, which he headed for many years. Moreover, he gives lectures at numerous universities of the theological profile. 

He is a specialist in organ designing, construction, and maintenance. He cooperates with many organ building companies, offering them consultations and preparing expert opinions. The instruments built to his own proprietary designs include e.g. the organ at the Department of Church Music aMuz, or the instrument at the Sanctuary of God’s Mercy in Gdańsk. Before he became the chief organist at the St. Mary’s Co-cathedral Basilica in Gdańsk in 1985, he had been a member of the committee in charge of the project of constructing the organ in the Basilica. (At the stage of technological acceptance of the instrument he was the head of the Polish body of the international commission which approved and accepted the built instrument.) He is an animator of musical life in Gdańsk and Pomerania, where he has already organized more than 1000 concerts within the framework of international festivals and concert cycles (e.g. the Organ Evenings at St. Mary’s, or Music at the Sanctuary of God’s Mercy in Gdańsk). He is the director of the International Festival of the Organ, Choral and Chamber Music, held annually basis at St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdańsk. 

He has given concerts at almost all major Polish centres of musical life, and abroad in Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the USA. He has recorded a dozen-or-so CDs of e.g. organ music (Poland, Germany, USA), and his own compositions featuring choirs and symphonic orchestras, as well as improvisations.