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The violinist Martyna Pastuszka was born in Upper Silesia, Poland. Over the years, she has established herself as one of the most valuable musicians of her generation, performing throughout Europe as a soloist, concertmaster, chamber ensemble performer, and orchestra conductor. She frequently collaborates with renowned ensembles in Europe, such as Collegium 1704, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, and Philippe Herreweghe’s Collegium Vocale Gent. She has performed as concertmaster or soloist with ensembles like Le Concert de la Loge, Concerto Copenhagen, Hofkapelle München, Capella Cracoviensis, Le Parlement de Musique, Le Concert Lorrain, Collegium Marianum, etc. Martyna also regularly collaborates with the Altera pars ensemble and Ensemble Polyharmonique.

In 2012, Martyna founded “{oh!} Orkiestra”, an early music ensemble with which she frequently appears at festivals and renowned concert halls, alongside artists such as Andreas Staier, Max Emanuel Cencic, Jakub Józef Orliński, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Vincent Dumestre, Barthold Kuijken, Lorenzo Coppola, Julia Lezhneva, Kristian Bezuidenhout, and Chouchane Siranossian.

Together with Anna and Krzysztof Firlus, she forms the “{oh!} Trio” with which they recently released the album “Portraits” (DUX) celebrating French Baroque chamber repertoire. Upcoming releases include Karol Lipiński’s Symphonies (NIFCCD) and Telemann’s early cantatas with Ensemble Polyharmonique (CPO). Martyna was appointed artistic director for the 2022 edition of the “Misteria Paschalia” Festival in Krakow.

To date, Martyna Pastuszka has an impressive discography of over 60 albums. Her latest recordings have been appreciated through multiple nominations for prestigious awards, including the Fryderyk Award, the Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej Award, ICMA, and the Polish Cultural Award Paszport Polityki in the “personality of the year” category. In 2021, she was nominated for the OPUS Klassik award in the “conductor of the year” category for the recording of Gismondo, re di Polonia by Leonardo Vinci (Parnassus Arts productions). In September 2022, Martyna, along with “{oh!} Orkiestra” as the resident ensemble, returned to the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival to lead a new staged opera production of Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie, as well as a concert version of Tomaso Albinoni’s Il Nascimento dell’Aurora.

19 Sept, 19:00 hr
Brasov Philharmonic
Oriental Tales - Martyna Pastuszka și „{oh!} Orkiestra”

The concert program is one of Eastern stories and encounters as a source of inspiration for Western composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. The program contains works written under the influence of encountered cultures, admiring their specifics, traditions, and mythology.

It is difficult to find sounds of the Orient here, as if the composers did not seek ways to reflect Oriental sonorities, but rather took the opportunity to draw listeners’ attention to stories from the East – to the fabulous Orient.

Concerto Phoenix, Sonata La Sultanne, or Concerto Comique Les Sauvages are attributed to this category of “entertainment music”. Henry Purcell’s Suite, along with Schmelzer’s Sonata, use the presence of stories and other cultures for political purposes. Elkanah Settle’s tragedy Distress’d Innocence, which explores the theme of violence against a woman as a means of degrading her husband’s position, fits into the mainstream literature of the Restoration period in England and attempts to shed light on a widespread problem in European countries. By moving the action thousands of kilometers away, the two authors, Settle and Purcell, make the reflection less intrusive and therefore possible. Schmelzer’s Sonata clearly incites the struggle to maintain European identity. It recalls the moment of victory over the Ottoman army in Vienna in 1683.

 

20 Sept, 18:00 hr
Evangelical Church of St. Bartholomew
Marchand Suites - Martyna Pastuszka și „{oh!} Trio”

In 1707, Joseph Marchand published the seven Suites de pièces mixed with violin sonatas and basso continuo. Now entirely forgotten, Marchand was one of the royal musicians during the reign of Louis XIV, playing the viola da gamba in the prestigious Chapelle Royale, the “orchestra of the 24 violins” (conducted by Jean-Baptiste Lully), and in the Les Petits Violons du Roi. A renowned teacher of his time, he was said to possess a “unique manner of performance.” His Suites were the first in the repertoire to feature the “dangerous” double trill. In certain ways, his music reflects the Italianization of musical tastes, but through the abundance of his musical ideas, the beauty of his harmonies, his virtuosity (especially in the bass parts), and his concern for the balance of form and voices, Marchand is not merely an imitator but rather an heir to the artistry of Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe, or François Couperin.

kyrios

Author kyrios

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