POLISH ORCHESTRA OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Polish Orchestra of the 18th Century was founded in 2007 on the initiative of Tomasz Ślusarczyk, eminent trumpeter, the only Polish member of the F. Brüggen Orchestra of the 18th Century. Most essential musicians come from Kraków: concertmaster Violetta Szopa- Tomczyk, vocalists: Katarzyna Wiwer and Marcin Wolak, as well as the legendary English counter-tenor, currently the conductor, Paul Esswood, who is regularly invited to conduct the ensemble’s concert. The orchestra cooperates also with the eminent Polish and foreign musicians (Ryszard Haba, Peter Hanson, Marek Toporowski, Joseph Cornwell and others). The idea of the ensemble was to perform the early music, especially Polish one, using the historical instruments, with the particular emphasis on placing it in the liturgical context. The Orchestra works out unknown or hardly performed music pieces, often requiring from the musicians great skills necessary to present their beauty. The most important projects realized till now are: Missa Trendina and the Sarmatian Requiem. The ensemble performed during ‘The Colours of Poland’  festival (Łowicz  2008, 2009) and the International Music Festival: “Salesians Summer’. Among the Orchestra’s achievement there are two CD’s with the music of Jasna Góra (Amando Ivančić Missa in C, Te Deum ,Loretan Litany D-dur, C-dur Mass ( Cremsmunster).