Period Instrument Orchestra Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense

Home / Period Instrument Orchestra Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense

The first early music ensemble in Poland was founded by Stefan Sutkowski in 1957. From the beginning, its members set themselves the goal of popularising the newly discovered valuable records of Polish music. In 1961, these musicians became the founding members of the Warszawska Opera Kameralna. As the opera ensemble had been expanded, its repertoire has been enriched by works of classical and later music, and Collegium cultivated and perfected the practice of performing early music.

The ensemble’s musicians have studied and perfected their skills under the guidance of best experts on playing historical instruments in Europe. Furthermore, they also participate in numerous international concert and recording projects. Performing together with the finest ensembles specialised in early music performance gives today’s musicians of MACV the opportunity to come into contact with new trends in this area.

From the early 1990s, the artistic management was led by harpsichordist Władysław Kłosiewicz, followed by the harpsichordist Lilianna Stawarz (from 2012) and the famous Austrian conductor Friedrich Haider (2017/2018 season). Since September 2018, the artistic management of MACV was entrusted to conductor Marcin Sompoliński. On September 1, Stefan Plewniak became the new Music Director of the orchestra.

The ensemble worked with such renowned artists as Benjamin Bayl, Paul Esswood, Jose Florencio, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen, Andrzej Jagodziński, Wieland Kuijken, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Leszek Możdżer, Zbigniew Pilch, Hubert Rutkowski, Jana Semerádová, Andrzej Sułkowski, Marco Vitale, Marek Toporowski.

The stage-repertoire of MACV includes, among others, the first-ever opera Euridice by Jacopo Peri (1600); all preserved operas by Claudio Monteverdi: L’Orfeo, L’incoronazione di Poppea/The Coronation of Poppea, Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria/The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland; English operas Venus and Adonis by John Blow and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell; French operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully (Alceste, Armide) and Jean-Philipp Rameau (Pigmalion) as well as late baroque operas: Tetide in Sciro by Alessandro Scarlatti, Zenobia by J. A. Hasse, Imeneo, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante and Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel.

The operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are particularly important items in the repertoire of the MACV orchestra. The ensemble’s repertoire includes, among others: Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, La Clemenza di Tito/The Clemency of Titus, Die Zauberflöte/The Magic Flute, Le Nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro, Idomeneo and less-known works such as Apollo et Hyacinthus or Bastien et Bastienne. MACV also performs early Romantic music, among others, Halka by Stanisław Moniuszko and two famous opera titles by Gioacchino Rossini: La Cenerentola/Cinderella and Le barbier de Seville/The Barber of Seville.

Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense has been on a number of foreign tours and participated in prestigious international festivals, always meeting with the warm reception of critics and music lovers. The ensemble’s discography includes 6 opera albums and several records with works of Polish Baroque composers.

ORCHESTRA

Violins
Maria Papuzińska-Uss – concertmaster
Grzegorz Lalek – concertmaster
Radosław Kamieniarz – concertmaster
Anna Jóźwiak-Kłosiewicz – leader
Ewa Chmielewska
Agata Habera
Kornelia Korecka-Karbownik
Magdalena Kuźmińska-Hartung
Mateusz Małecki
Klaudia Matlak
Natalia Moszumańska
Marcin Sochan
Katarzyna Szewczyk-Pławecka

Violas
Marcin Stefaniuk – leader
Karolina Habało
Anna Stankiewicz
Anna Wieczorek
Ewa Pilarska-Banaszak
Piotr Chrupek

Cellos
Jakub Kościukiewicz – concertmaster
Katarzyna Cichoń
Anna Cierpisz
Justyna Rekść-Raubo
Aleksandra Rybak-Żymła
Karolina Szewczykowska
Maciej Gąsior

Double Basses
Stanisław Smołka – leader
Paweł Muzyka

Flutes
Paweł Książkiewicz
Małgorzata Wojciechowska
Karolina Zych
Bassoon
Beniamin Lewi

Oboes
Marek Niewiedział
Jan Hutek
Patrycja Leśnik-Hutek
Rafael Gabriel Przybyła

Clarinet
Robert Michalski
Rafał Michalik

Natural Horns
Dominika Stencel
Anna Baran

Trumpets
Ostap Popovych
Aneta Mścisz
Jacek Brzózka
Michał Gidziński

French Horn
Michał Kanawka

Trombones
Piotr Wawreniuk
Robert Krajewski
Michał Kiljan

Percussion
Jarosław Kopeć
Krzysztof Niezgoda

Organ
Krzysztof Marosek

Skip to content