We are excited to share the news that SWPS University Choir will soon present a new album, “Kołowrót” (Wheel and Axle), developed in collaboration with the Bastarda trio. The record combines Polish musical tradition with modern arrangements, which bring a fresh quality to the traditional songs, and make them attractive to contemporary listeners. The record promises to deliver musical experience of the highest quality. The producers plan to issue 1,000 records, and make the recording available on content sharing platforms such as Spotify and Bandcamp. The album has been developed on the occasion of the 25th jubilee of SWPS University, with the media support provided by Strefa Kultur (SWPS University's Culture Space).

SWPS University Choir – passionate about singing

The SWPS University Choir includes 50 amateur and professional singers who are full of enthusiasm, ideas, and passion for music. The Choir was established in 2001 and, initially, it performed during various events at SWPS University. Gradually, the Choir ventured into new forms of artistic expression and began reaching a wider audience. Since its inception, the Choir has been led by the conductor Ewa Mackiewicz-Pilich.

Over the years, the Choir participated in several significant musical projects, such as Video Games Live, the performance of Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, and has won numerous awards at national and international choir competitions, for example the third place at the International Choir Music Festival in Ohrid, Macedonia, in 2010. The Choir also participated in many choral festivals in Poland (in Warsaw and Wrocław) and Slovakia. In recent years, the singers undertook a mission of popularizing Polish music abroad and performed a series of concerts in Sweden (2017) and Spain (2019). During these concerts, the Choir had an opportunity to perform with renowned singers such as Łukasz Borowicz, Gabriel Chmura, Izabella Kłosińska, Olga Pasiecznik, and Wojciech Gierlach.

The SWPS University Choir aims to go beyond the stereotypes and showcase the diversity and the rich tradition of choral music.

Trio Bastarda – experiments in jazz and classical music

Bastarda is one of the most interesting musical ensembles playing experimental music that combines jazz with classical music, and creating its own contemporary arrangements of early and traditional music. Members of the ensemble include: Paweł Szamburski (clarinet), Michał Górczyński (contrabass clarinet), and Tomasz Pokrzywiński (cello). The trio performs at festivals of classical and contemporary music, always to sold out venues and critical acclaim.

The artists create bold reinterpretations of early music, which inspires them to develop their own sound language. Bastarda’s music encompasses the sounds of hundred years old chants, motets, and tetrachord litanies dispersed into small fragments. By improvising on the basis of archaic melodies, composing and arranging completely new pieces of music, the musicians build a bridge between musical worlds that have been separated by hundreds of years and they reach a universal and spiritual dimension of these melodies. The music of the Bastarda trio is a contemporary, original and very personal interpretation, inspired by a rich musical tradition.

So far, Bastarda has published several records including: “Promitat eterno”, “Ars moriendi”, and “Nigunim”, which was inspired by traditional Chasidic songs and published in April 2020 to high critical acclaim. Currently, the trio is working on their next album, entitled “Fado”.

More information about the Bastarda Trio »

An album to celebrate the 25^th jubilee of SWPS University

The only way SWPS University Choir could celebrate the 25th jubilee of the University was to sing! The upcoming “Kołówrotek” (Wheel and Axel) record will include a selection of Polish songs performed during various traditional rituals related to changing of the seasons and folk customs. The pieces have been inspired solely by traditional sources and musically rearranged by the members of the Bastarda Trio. The songs will be divided into four parts reflecting the cyclical changes occurring in nature as well as traditional Polish folk customs and rituals. The Bastarda musicians have created attractive and moody arrangements, inspired by jazz, for choir and a musical ensemble.

The “Kołowrót” record will be available in September 2021.