18. Baha kamermūzikas festivāls. Ania Karpowicz (vijole, Polija), Marek Bracha (āmuriņu klavieres, Polija)

Ania Karpowicz (flutist, curator, activist) Poland

A graduate of the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in the class of Janos Balint (2011) and the Academy of Music. G. and K. Bacewiczów in Łódź in the class of Antoni Wierzbiński (2009). Prizewinner of national and international music competitions in Poland and Germany (1999-2015). Scholarships-winner of „Alumni Verein” Detmold as well as individual artistic scholarship of the Capital City of Warsaw (2012, 2013, 2015).

2006-2008 Ania Karpowicz joined the European Union Youth Orchestra. With the EUYO she performed in the Royal Albert Hall (the PROMS), Berliner Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw, Zurich Tonhalle and many other concert halls in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Latvia and Kazakhstan, performing as an orchestral musician with such musical personalities as Sir James Galway, Janine Jansen, Andrey Boreyko, Vladimir Askenhazy.

Ania Karpowicz is an active soloist, she performed at the Musica Electronica Nova Festival, Wrocław (2015), at the Philharmonic A. Rubinstein in Łódź (2016) as well as she gave concerts with Sound Factory Orchestra at the Music Academy in Wrocław, Hochschule für Musik Dresden and Folkwang Universitat der Künste Essen (2017).

As a chamber musician, she appears regularly in Hashtag Ensemble, In:te:gro, Fl: Ar-Art as well as she cooperates successfully with pianist Marek Bracha and organist Michał Markuszewski.

Ania Karpowicz specializes in urban micro-projects carried out in cooperation with local communities. In 2010-2012, she led the project „Lokal Na Poważnie” in which 26 concerts took place and 21 world premieres were held. In 2014 she took part in a series of concerts „WawaParis1914” together with Mariusz Kłubczuk and Barbara Kinga Majewska, implementing classical music to public space. She took part in the festival of creating urban space „War Vie”. In 2015 she completed a series of 12 „Dźwiękolory” backyard workshops with classical and contemporary music for the local communities of Warsaw. In 2017, in cooperation with Marek Bracha, she initiated „WarszeMuzik” – a series of musical interventions in urban space in the area of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Since 2003, Ania Karpowicz extends Polish flute literature by working with composers. She has performed many world premieres and has got 37 works dedicated to her.

In 2013, Ania Karpowicz founded the Hashtag Ensemble music cooperative and manages her works, performing repertoire concerts with music of the 20th and 21st century, as well as leading improvisational and educational initiatives. Hashtag Ensemble has published CD „Visegrad Songs” for Requiem Records (2015). The album music sounded in 7 concerts , incl. the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Solti Hall in Budapest and the National Philharmonic in Minsk, Belarus. In May 2018 Hashtag Ensemble released second CD album: #NetworkMusic. Hashtag Ensemble regularly appears in the Smykowizje series at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, presenting music to the youngest audiences. Only in 2017, the cooperative has completed 34 concerts for over 1,000 families. Hashtag Ensemble performed final compositions in the Composers’ Competition. T. Baird (2017) and the 15th International Competition T. Serocki (2017).

Ania Karpowicz has 3 children: Antonina, Ignacy and Michalina.

 Marek Bracha, Poland

Marek Bracha is seen as one of Poland’s most interesting pianists of the new generation. An artist with a refined and beautifully understated expressive style, Bracha is well versed in the classical and romantic repertoire, and feels equally comfortable with modern and period instruments. He is also pursuing systematic research into eighteenth- and nineteenth-century performance practice. 

A highly versatile artist with a busy schedule, Marek Bracha promotes Polish music internationally and is no stranger to modern repertoire, including successful world premieres of new music. He has collaborated on a regular basis with conductors including Alun Francis, José Maria Florêncio, Wojciech Rodek, Jakub Chrenowicz and Jacek Kaspszyk. His artistic collaborations as a chamber musician include joint projects with Tobias Koch, Marcin Masecki, Agata Szymczewska, Maciej Frąckiewicz, the Atom String Quartet, the Royal String Quartet and the Meccore String Quartet. In July 2017 Marek performed with the Scharoun Ensemble der Berliner Philharmoniker. 

In April this year Bracha performed at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, playing Władysław Szpilman’s Concertino for Piano and Orchestra and Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto with Sinfonia Varsovia under the conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk. Soon after that Marek appeared alongside the musicians of the Sharoun Ensemble der Berliner Philharmoniker at the opening gala concert of the 5th Emanacje Festival in Lusławice. Artists presented W. A Mozart’Piano Quartet in G minor K. 478 and F. Schubert’s Piano Quintet The Trout.

Over the past months Marek appeared with series of recitals in Japan. He also participated as a lecturer and tutor at fortepiano masterclass taking place in Lusławice in September.

 The National Chopin Institute in Poland (NIFC) released his debut solo album featuring pieces by Chopin and some of his latest notable achievements include the release of Modern Soul, an album he recorded with the eminent violinist Agata Szymczewska and promoted with a concert at the National Polish Radio Symphonic Orchestra concert hall (NOSPR) in October 2016. Modern Soul went on to win the prestigious Supersonic Prize awarded by the Pizzicato magazine. 

Marek Bracha has appeared at many music festivals and projects worldwide, including three appearances at the prestigious EXPO exhibitions (Hannover 2000, Aichi 2005 and Milan 2015). In 2010, Bracha gave the closing concert during the Chopin Year celebrations at the NCPA in Beijing. In 2013, the National Chopin Institute in Poland (NIFC) released his debut solo album featuring pieces by Chopin. His work promoting Polish music abroad included appearances at the Chopin au Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris (2013) and Semanas Musicales, an international music festival in Frutillar, Chile (January 2014), where he played music by Chopin, Szymanowski, Szpilman and Panufnik. An excellent interpreter of Chopin, Bracha is often invited to appear at Polish music festivals including, among others, the 65th International Chopin Piano Festival at Duszniki Zdrój, the 44th Festival of Piano Music in Słupsk, and La Folle Journée – Chopin Open in Warsaw.