7.01.2025
Aktualności, Events, Music, News
Concert: Polish New Generation in Classical Music – Karski Quartet
Join us for the first concert in the Polish New Generation in Classical Music series as a part of the European Parlament’s Thursday Concerts Programme!
Concert: Polisn New Generation in Classical Music – Karski Quartet
January 7, 2025
13:00
EU Quarter – Info Hub on Esplanade Solidarność 1980
Duration: this lunchtime concert will be approximately 30 minutes in duration.
Entry free.
No booking needed; seats are first-come, first-served. Arrive early to secure your spot before the performance.
Karski Quartet – Belgian/Polish string quartet based in Brussels: Kaja Nowak, Natalia Kotarba – violins, Diede Verpoest – viola, Julia Kotarba – cello
The story of the Karski Quartet began in 2018. The four musicians were brought together as much by shared musical inspiration as by friendship. Long before the three Polish members completed their music degrees, Kaja Nowak in Warsaw, Natalia and Julia Kotarba in Krakow, and met the Belgian Diede Verpoest in Brussels, their interest in other cultures was sparked by the European exchange programmes in which they participated. Travelling abroad with the music school folk group for Natalia and Julia, the international summer music workshop in her hometown of Łańcut for Kaja, were the first glimpses at the possibilities that travelling and studying abroad can offer.
Ever since the Karskis started to play together, they have performed internationally across Europe and in Canada, with a US tour planned for 2026. Spring 2025 will see the release of their new CD with quartets by Grazyna Bacewicz.
Program:
Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 4
Set of Polish folk songs in arrangement for string quartet by Ignacy Zalewski, Paweł Czarny and Karski Quartet
Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 4
Set of Polish folk songs in arrangement for string quartet by Ignacy Zalewski, Paweł Czarny and Karski Quartet
String Quartet No. 4 is the best known and most often performed among Grażyna Bacewicz’s seven string quartets. It was written in 1951, following a commission from the Polish Composers’ Union, which invited its members to take part in a composers’ competition for a string quartet organised in Liège. Bacewicz’s piece, entered as “1951”, won the first prize. The “Brussels victory” – as the event was commented on by Grzegorz Fitelberg in a letter to the composer – was discussed extensively by the Polish and foreign press.
The concert series entitled Polish New Generation in Classical Music is organised by the Polish Institute Brussels in cooperation with the European Parliaments Thursday Concerts programme.
