Maria Pomianowska (Poland)
„Magic of the bow” lecture (19.07.2012, 11:30 AM, Magazyn Kultury | Kolanko No 6)
„Global music master” workshops (20-21.07.2012, 4:00-5:30 PM, Magazyn Kultury| Kolanko No 6)
Maria Pomianowska - composer, singer, instrumentalist, teacher. Her interests are characterized by an extraordinary openness to various forms and musical systems. She conducts studies on unique techniques of playing musical instruments from Asia; she travels to India, China, Korea, Japan and the Middle East. She performs with the Raga Sangit ensemble, in which, as a soloist, she presents to the Polish audience the basic forms and musical instruments of great Asian cultures. She has realized a series of several hundred lectures, shows and recitals related to classical music of India and the Middle East. Initiator and co-organizer of many projects with the participation of many great artists of Indian and Arab music (prof. Farhan Sabbah, Pandit Ram Narayan, Pandit Ravi Shankar). Founder and artistic director of the Zespół Polski [Polish Band], which guiding principle is, among others referring to the old tradition of the so-called knee instruments (e.g. Biłgoraj suka, Płock fiddle) and with which she has performed in many European countries, but also in Taiwan and Japan, where she lived and carried out artistic activity in 1997-2002. For years, the artist has been giving lectures and music workshops in Poland and abroad, teaching and promoting young bands and musicians. In her musical journey, she crosses barriers and breaks well-worn stereotypes, doing so with respect for the distinctiveness of each musical tradition she learns and presents. She collaborates with many artists in Poland and abroad. She appears in television and radio programs. She has a lively concert activity while traveling all over the world, she is also the artistic director of the Warsaw world music festival "Skrzyżowanie Kultur" ["The Crossing of Cultures"]. In 2011, at the Academy of Music in Krakow, she created and started running her own new field of study at the Instrumental Department: "Knee fiddles". It is the beginning of the creation of the first department of folk and ethnic music at the Academy of Music in Poland.