Dariusz Samol

     Teaching Languages : English, Polish

Dariusz Samol graduated from the Lemmens Instituute in Leuven, Belgium, where he studied under the supervision of Prof. Ed Bogaard.  He completed Doctoral Degree at the Academy of Music in Wroclaw under Prof. Mieczyslaw Stachura. In 2019 from he received Titular Professor of Musical Arts.

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Prof. Samol has performed concerts in Poland and abroad, including at the 13th World Saxophone Congress in Minneapolis, USA, 16th World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scottland, the Contemporary Music Forum, Warsaw, Poland; the Karol Szmanowski Festival, Zakopane, Poland; the Witold Lutoslawski Contemporary Music Festival, Szczecin, Poland; and the Laboratory of Contemporary Music, Warsaw, Poland, Saxophone Days in Hattiesburg (USA), ASEAN Festival (China). He performs solo recitals and chamber music as well as concert pieces with orchestra. 

As a soloist he has performed with the Pomorska Philharmonic, the Dolnoslaska Philharmonic, the Tarnow Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Nova, the Orchestra of the Opera of the Castle in Szczecin, the Torun Symphony Orchestra, the Lomza Chamber Orchestra, Baltic Neopolis Orchestra and the Olomouc Philharmonic (Czech Republic). 

Many composers wrote pieces for him: Artur Cieślak, Alicja Gronau, Marek Jasiński, Jaromir Gajewski, Janusz Stalmierski, Piotr Grella-Możejko, Alicja Gronau-Osinska, Georg Andrix, Andreas van Zoelen, Zhong Juncheng, Vladimir Runchak and Say Brandon are among others.

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Dariusz Samol is actively involved in conducting saxophone master classes and clinics in Poland and abroad including Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, Florida State University, University of Texas Pan-Am, University of Southern Mississippi, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, Ithaca College, Bowling Green University, State University of New York (USA) and gave many concerts and master classes in China (Beijing, Nanning, Zhaoqing, Shenyang, Ningbo, Lanzhou, Liuzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kanton, Lanzhou) and Europe.

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Prof. Dariusz Samol is teaching saxophone and chamber ensembles at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, Poland, and served the teaching saxophone as a Guest Professor at the Zhaoqing University, China. His students have won many competitions, including International Music Competition in Milano (Italy), Concorso Musicale Europeo Citta di Filadelfia (Italy), International Wind Competition in Ostrava (Czech Republic), International Music Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania.

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Dariusz Samol recorded two CDs with Polish saxophone music and published three books: „Muzyka saksofonowa w twórczości polskich kompozytorów. Dzieła wybrane”. (On history of Polish music for saxophone), also translated to English, 2014/2016

„Muzyka saksofonowa w twórczości kompozytorów amerykańskich polskiego pochodzenia” (On American composers with Polish roots who are writing music for saxophone), 2016, “Adolphe Sax i muzyka saksofonowa XIX wieku” (Adolphe Sax and saxophone music of XIX century), 2020.

He was award by Instytut Mickiewicza to the program Polish Culture Abroad (2003, 2009, 2014), and received the Grant from The Kosciuszko Foundation from New York (2015).

Prof. Samol is the founder of the International Saxophone Festival in Szczecin, Poland and International Festival for Winds Instruments “Etiuda.”

He is concertizing as chamber musician with the ensembles: The ArtSax Duo, Impression Saxophone Ensemble and Inventia Trio. Dariusz Samol is a member of North American Saxophone Aliance.

Web site of Dariusz Samol is: www.dariuszsamol.com

 

Some reviews:

„His performances are marked by a beautiful tone, flawless technical control, and a wonderful sense of musicality“.

Steven Mauk, Ithaca College, USA

 

„An extraordinary saxophonist and musician“.

Jan Krzywicki, composer, Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

 

„I have observed number of traits common to all of his students: good, basic saxophone playing fundamentals, a rich quality of tone, intelligent,  imaginative phrase awareness...“

Patrick Meighan

School of Music, Florida State University, USA

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Hermann Stefánsson

 Teaching Languages : English, Swedish, Icelandic

Icelander Hermann Stefánsson has been principal clarinetist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Stockholm Sinfonietta since 1995.

 

He previously held the same position with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. He is also member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Wind Quintet and the Swedish Serenade Ensemble.

 

Stefánsson is professor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and has previously been guest professor at the Academy of Music in Łódź, Poland and the Sarajevo Music Academy in Bosnia.

He has also worked as a teacher at the Malmö Academy of Music and Piteå School of Music, and has guest taught at several universities in Europe and the US. 

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Hermann is co-founder and artistic coordinator of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Academy and is in the board of directors of the Martin Fröst Foundation.

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Harri Mäki

Teaching Languages : English, Finnish

Harri Mäki studied the clarinet mainly with Kari Kriikku and Reijo Koskinen in Finland. After having graduated from the class of Thomas Friedli at the Geneva Conservatory, he joined the Tapiola Sinfonietta as principal clarinetist. He also studied privately with Charles Neidich and Osmo Vänskä. 

Harri has premiered dozens of works, including clarinet concertos dedicated to him by Juhani Nuorvala and Kirmo Lintinen. 

He is the Professor of Woodwinds at the Sibelius Academy and was principal clarinetist of the Tapiola Sinfonietta from 1988 - 2018. 

Harri Mäki has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, the Far East, and in North and South America. 

Many of the students graduating from his teaching studio at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland have succeeded in both orchestral auditions and competitions around the world. 

In 2012, he was honoured to receive the Pro Musica Award for his merits as a performer and a teacher.

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Washington Barella

Teaching Languages : English, German

Teaching Period : July 14 (arrival) - 20 (departure)

Washington Barella studied from 1984 to 1986 at the Hannover University of Music with Ingo Goritzki and continued his training from 1988 to 1990 at the Hartt School of Music, Hartford with Humbert Lucarelli.

He was a first prizewinner at the Concert Artists Guild International New York Competition in 1990 and was awarded third prize at the “ARD Musikwettbewerb” in Munich, Germany in 1991.

Since then Washington Barella has performed with orchestras such as the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra, the SWR Sinfonieorchester, the State Symphony of Sao Paulo (OSESP), the Annapolis Symphony an the Savannah Symphony, among others. As a chamber musician he has toured the United States, Japan, Brazil and most European countries.

He has served as jury member at important international competitions such as the ARD Musikwettbewerb, the Markneukirchen Musikwettbewerb, The Muri International Oboe Competition in Switzerland and the Internationaler Aeolos Bläserwettbewerb in Düsseldorf, Germany. Mr. Barella has given master classes in Germany, Sweden, the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Costa Rica, China, Russia and his own Brazil.

Washington Barella was Principal Oboist of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg from 1992 to 2016. In 2012 he was appointed at the University of the Arts Berlin in Germany as Professor of Oboe.

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Andreas Wehrenfennig

Teaching Languages : German, English, French

Andreas Wehrenfennig was Born in Freising, Bavaria, where he began to take harp lessons with Ranghild Kopp-Mues in Munich at the age of seven, even a pupil, he debuted as a soloist with the Münchner Symphoniker. Later he studied for several years with Germaine Lorenzini in Lyon. He continued his studies with Helga Storck at the Hochschule für Musik in München, where he also received a pedagogical degree. He completed his studies with Edward Witsenburg at the University of Music Mozarteum at Salzburg, where he graduated as Master Artium with honours.

 

Andreas Wehrenfennig has won many prizes at national and international competitions and was awarded with the “life music now” – scholarship of the Yehudi Menuhin foundation.

 

Already during his studies, he was appointed solo harp at the Philharmonisches Orchester bad Reichenhall, where he gained broad experience of orchestral practice.

In 1999 he was appointed harp at the Staatskapelle Halle, with this orchestra he attended concert tours and took part in numerous broadcast and CD-recordings. As a guest he played with many renowned orchestras such as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Staatsoper München, among others under the baton of Dimitri Kitajenko, Asher Fish, Rudolf Barschai oder Wayne Marshall.

Beside this he gets involved by historically informed performance, as a member of the Händelfestspielorchester Halle he plays the baroque triple harp as continuo and soloist.

With the modern harp he appears regulary as a soloist with the Staatskapelle Halle and other renowned orchestras.

 

As a soloist and chamber musician performing throughout Europe, his interest in developing the repertoire for his instrument leads him to close cooperation with composers like Paul Patterson. Beside many premieres of solo and chambermusic works for harp he appears frequently with the “ensemble avantgarde” at the “musica nova” series at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and as a soloist at the IMPULS – Festival für neue Musik in Sachsen-Anhalt.

 

Andreas Wehrenfennig is professor for harp at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock and the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar and teaches at the Konservatorium Georg Friedrich Händel in Halle, his students are prize winners and hold positions in renowned orchestras. He is juror for international competitions and holds international masterclasses like the Talent Summer Courses and Festival in Brescia/Italy.

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Tomasz Strahl

Teaching Languages : English, German, Polish
Teaching Period : August 16 (arrival) - 22 (departure)

He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, cello class of Professor Kazimierz Michalik (1989). As a holder of the scholarship of the Austrian Government he completed a one-year postgraduate course at Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna under Tobias Kühne. He also studied chamber music under an outstanding violinist Krzysztof Jakowicz with whom he has performed for many years.

He was a laureate of all-Poland (Poznań, Warsaw) and international competitions, e.g. he won the 1st award at the 5th International Nicanor Zabaleta Music Competition in San Sebastian, Spain (1991). He was also awarded with the scholarship of the Polish and Japanese Foundation JESC (1994).

Among the masters of the baton with whom he had an opportunity to collaborate are: Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Andrzej Boreyko, Łukasz Borowicz, Tomasz Bugaj, Kai Bumann, Massimiliano Caldi, Henryk Czyż, Philippe Entremont, Przemysław Fiugajski, José Maria Florêncio, Czesław Grabowski, Bogdan Jarmołowicz, Michał Klauza, Jerzy Kosek, Jan Krenz, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Wojciech Michniewski, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Marek Pijarowski, Paweł Przytocki, Wojciech Rodek, Jacek Rogala, Zygmunt Rychert, Jerzy Salwarowski, Tadeusz Strugała, Jerzy Swoboda, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Monika Wolińska, Sławek A. Wróblewski, Ryszard Zimak, Maciej Żółtowski, and others.

For many years he has been an active concert musician, performing with such orchestras as: Polish Chamber Orchestra, Polish Radio Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Katowice, Sinfonietta Cracovia, SinfoniaVarsovia, Concerto Avenna, Sofia Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal São Paulo (Brazil) and with almost all philharmonic orchestras in Poland, with the National Philharmonic Orchestra at the top of them. He collaborates with both outstanding soloists and chamber musicians, e.g. The Wilanów Quartet, Prima Vista, or The Silesian Quartet.

Tomasz Strahl has performed in (among others): Schauspielhaus (Berlin), Brucknersaal (Linz), St. John’s Smith Square (London), Art Center (Tel Aviv), Toppan Hall (Tokyo), Auditori (Barcelona), Glinka Hall in Sankt Petersburg, Moniuszko Hall at the Great Theatre in Warsaw, and the National Philharmonic.

He had numerous tours around Japan, Canada and Spain (with Silesian Philharmonic). Together with Krzysztof Jabłoński with whom he creates the Chopin Duo he participated in the performance of Fortepianissimo presented at the Great Theatre in Warsaw. He was a guest artist of such festivals as: Warsaw Autumn , Warsaw Music Meetings, Music in the Old Cracow, Bravo Maestro in Kąśna Dolna, Festival in Łańcut, Chopin à Paris, and festivals in Guadix (Spain), Caracas, Busko Zdrój, Duszniki Zdrój, Antonin, Słupsk, Kamień Pomorski and Bydgoszcz. An important event for him was the performance of Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto in the presence of the composer, under the baton of Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk (1993). 

In 2005 Tomasz Strahl presented the Polish premiere of Cello Concerto no.2 by Piotr Moss at the festival called Premieres (2005) with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio with which in 2006 he recorded the found Concerto by Zygmunt Stojowski. In 2007, together with Krzysztof Jabłoński and Konstanty Andrzej Kulka he recorded the complete chamber pieces by Fryderyk Chopin for the company BeArTon, and in 2012 he participated in the European promotion of The National Edition of Works by Fryderyk Chopin; on this occasion he performed concerts in Vienna, Rome and Geneva. The artist is also a devoted promoter of Cello Concerto by Stanisław Moryto.

He has made numerous archive recordings for the Polish Radio and the Polish Television, as well as the CBC Radio in Canada. His discography covers the recordings for Pony Canyon, CD Accord, Pavane Records, Gema Stereo, Polmusic, Acte Préalable and Sony Classics. He was three times nominated for the ‘Fryderyk’ award, which he won in 2003.

He teaches at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (in 2001 he obtained the title of Professor from President of the Republic of Poland). During the term of office 2012–2016 he held the function of Dean of the University’s Department of Instrumental Studies. During the election in 2016, he was re-elected for the same function for 2016–2020. 

He also teaches at master courses in Poland, Holland, Finland, Germany, Japan and South America (in 2005 he delivered a cycle of lectures and performed a few concerts during the prestigious ‘Wien, Prag, Budapest’ International Summer Academy).

Tomasz Strahl has been honoured with a number of state decorations: in 2002 he was awarded with The Golden Cross of Merit; in 2009 he received the 1st degree award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for his artistic and teaching achievements, and in 2010 he was awarded with the Silver Medal ‘For Merits to Culture’ Gloria Artis and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland.

As part of the celebrations of the Chopin Year jubilee the artist gave concerts in Sankt Petersburg, during the Nafplion Festival in Greece and in Konzertverein in Ingoldstadt, and with Krzysztof Jabłoński he performed a recital before Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. In 2010 he was chosen to join the Council of the Phonographic Award of ‘Fryderyk’. 

The artist plays the instrument by Leopold Widhalm, Norymberg 1778.

Since 2012 he has taken part in the promotion of The National Edition of Chamber Works by Fryderyk Chopin edited by Professor Jan Ekier.

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Tomasz Szczesny

 

Teaching Languages : English, Polish
Teaching Period : July 30 (arrival) - August 5 (departure)

Tomasz Szczęsny - graduated with honours from Szczecin music schools where he had studied both piano and cello, and studied cello at the Music Academy in Wrocław under professor Stanisław Firlej.  

 

In 2010 performed as a soloist in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in New York City.  In 2014 he obtained his doctorate in Musical Arts – specialization cello.

 

He’s the author of the transcription of Karol Szymanowski's music for cello and piano. Together with the pianist Sławomir Wilk, he released the album “Karol Szymanowski Works for cello and piano.”

 

From 2010 he is a professor at the Academy of Art in Szczecin.

Regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician, he sits on the jury of cello competitions and leads a master class. He is also a studio artist, realising cello parts in the projects of theatre and film music.

 

He played concerts in the USA, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.

 

Since 2006 he has been a concertmaster/principal of the cello group in Szczecin Philharmonics.

The artist plays the cello of Wojciech Topa (Zakopane 2008) and romanian cello Gheorge Ludovic 2022.

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