Arkadiusz Adamski (Poland)

CLARINET

Arkadiusz Arek Adamski received his master degree from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, in the clarinet class run by Professor A. Janicki. While still a student, he won awards at numerous national and international music competitions, including First Prizes at the National Chamber Music Competition in 1983 (the duo category) and the 2nd Karol Kurpiński International Clarinet Competition (1985). He has attended international masterclasses in Germany, France and Poland and continued to improve his skills with Professor J. Schou in Denmark thanks to a Polish government grant. In 1985 he began to collaborate with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, two years later becoming a Principal of the Polish Chamber Philharmonic. He now holds the same position in the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (since 1993). He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with numerous orchestras and ensembles including the National Polish Radio SO, The Hilliard Ensemble, the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, the Warsaw Chamber Opera, the Byelorussia National Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonietta Cracovia. He is also a member of The New Art Ensemble He has made many recordings for Polish Radio, Polish Television and the BBC. In 2011, the CD featuring Penderecki’s Clarinet Quartet (recorded by Arek, Arkadiusz Adamski with the Dafô Quartet) received Excellentia & Supersonic Awards from the musical journal ‘Pizzicato’ and was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), the continuation of Midem Classical Awards, in the ‘chamber music’ category. The same nomination he received after recording Penderecki’s Sinfonietta no 2. Together with his outstanding graduates he recorded as a first time in the world phonography Concerto Grosso no 2 for three clarinets and two basethorns composed by K. Penderecki. Very important on his biography is the album Brahms Clarinet Works recorded with outstanding Polish Chamber musicians including the winner of the ARD Competition Apollon Musagete Quartett. He is the author of the “Rainbow Clarinet School” teaching method for the youngest pupils. In 2007 he was invited as a recitalist to the World Clarinetfest Symposium in Vancouver. Two years later, he performed as a soloist at the Clarinetfest in Porto. As an outstanding teacher he has been giving master classes throughout Europe and his students are among the best clarinetists of the young generation. He has been in charge of the clarinet class at the Music Academy in Katowice since 2001 and Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw from 2019. From 2010 he is a member of the board of the European Clarinet Association. In 2014 he organized the 4th edition of the European Clarinet Congress in Katowice and served as its Artistic Director. Arkadiusz Arek Adamski plays the clarinet Buffet Crampon – Legende, Licostini LN mouthpiece, D’Addario Reserve Classic reeds and ligature Silverstein CRYO4 GOLD.

Gabor Varga (Hungary)

CLARINET

Born in Hungary in 1974, Gabor Varga studied at the University of Szeged and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest gaining his diplomas in 1996 and 1998 respectively. He graduated from the Paris Conservatoire as a Postgraduate in 2002.His professional orchestral career began in 1995 when he was engaged as Principal Clarinet in the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1996 he became Principal of Concerto Budapest, and  since 1997 he has been Principal in the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Between 2005 and 2007 he served as Principal with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra while on sabbatical from Budapest. He has also worked regularly with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra since 2001. Winner of several national (in 1985, 1988 & 1992) and international prizes(1994, 1995 & 2001), he has since performed in more than 25 countries worldwide (including USA, Canada, Peru, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, UK, France, Spain & Italy) and appeared as a soloist in such concert halls as the Musikverein in Vienna and the Gewandhaus in Lepzig, participating in various music festivals and appearing at the most prestigious clarinet festivals. A keen advocate of new music, he has premiered several new works of chamber music and commissioned numerous Concerti from leading composers like M. Patterson , Kovács, Durkó, Fekete, Szentpàli, Vajda and is continually searching for opportunities to introduce new music to the Hungarian public including the Sonata by Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Thea Musgrave's Clarinet Concerto. His recordings include several chamber works and Concertos by Weber and Mozart for Hungarian Radio and CD recordings of the Nielsen Concerto, Dreamdances by Kovàcs, chamber music by Drusetzky and Vajda's clarinet works. He regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, Asia, North America, South America at major universities (Beijing, Katowice, London etc.) and for the ICA and ECA clarinet festivals. His teaching career started at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 2001 as an assistant. In 2006 he taught at the NAFA in Singapore. In 2014 he joined the staff of the University of Debrecen in Eastern Hungary but later that year he was appointed Professor of Clarinet at the Tibor Varga Faculty of Musical Arts at the University of Györ. Between 2017 and 2019 he was holding the position of “ International Chair of Clarinet “ at the RNCM, Manchester, where later on 2019 he was appointed to position of “ clarinet tutor “ In 2022 he has been appointed to the Associate Professor of Clarinet position at The Jacob School of Music, Bloomington, IN.

Andrew Marriner (Great Britain)

CLARINET

Andrew Marriner held the position of principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra from1986 to 2019, having succeeded the late Jack Brymer in that post. During his orchestral career Andrew maintained a presence on the worldwide solo concert platform, in the field of chamber music, and as a teacher. Andrew first played with the LSO in 1977 under Sergiu Celibidache and, as guest principal, on the orchestra’s 1983 world tour. He later became principal clarinet of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a position he held concurrently with his commitment to the LSO until 2008. As a soloist Andrew has been a regular performer in London, both at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall. As both performer and teacher, his career is worldwide in its reach, taking him regularly from Europe to the Americas, Asia and Australia. Throughout his career, Andrew has performed with chamber ensembles around the world, including the Chilingirian, Lindsay, Endellion, Moscow, Warsaw, Orlando, Saccone and Belcea string quartets, as well as being a member of the LSO’s chamber ensemble. He has performed with some of the most distinguished figures in the world of chamber music, among them Alfred Brendel, André Previn, Andras Schiff, Lynn Harrell, Stephen Isserlis, Emanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud, Sylvia McNair and Edita Gruberova, as well as the late Vlado Perlemuter and George Malcolm. Highlights of Andrew’s career include many performances over the years with his father, Sir Neville Marriner, both as soloist and as a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Among his many traversals of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto are particularly memorable performances at the Musikverein in Vienna; at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, with Sir Colin Davis conducting; with Sir Neville conducting at Teatro la Fenice, Venice in 2009; and in concerts with Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Antonio Pappano conducting. Andrew has given the world premières of several works written for him by Sir John Tavener, Robin Holloway, Dominic Muldowney and Douglas Weiland. For Andrew, the LSO commissioned from Tavener The Repentant Thief for clarinet, percussion and strings. Andrew premiered the work with the LSO and recorded it in 1990 with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, subsequently introducing it in New York. In 1997, he played the first performances of Holloway’s Clarinet Concerto, written to celebrate the 1400th anniversary of The King’s School, Canterbury, and Muldowney’s Clarinet Concerto at that year’s Oxford Contemporary Music Festival. In Australia, Andrew premiered Weiland’s new concerto with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. In 1989, Andrew was featured in performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, with the composer conducting, in London, Paris and Berlin. For the Finzi centenary in 2001, he was soloist in the composer’s clarinet concerto in a commemorative concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Also of note were performances of Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie with the LSO at the Barbican, with Michael Tilson Thomas and Valery Gergiev, and the Duett-Concertino of Richard Strauss, with Gergiev and Okku Kamu. In the chamber repertoire, notable performances include the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with the Chilingirian,Quatuor Sine Nomine and The Lindsays, and Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen all over the world, memorably with Sylvia McNair and Alfred Brendel at the Royal Festival Hall in 1999, and with Edita Gruberova at the Wigmore Hall in 2010. In addition to numerous recordings with the LSO and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Andrew has recorded the core solo and chamber clarinet repertoire for various labels, including Philips, EMI, Chandos and Collins Classics. The BBC regularly broadcasts his concerto appearances. Latert recording projects included Ronald Corp’s Clarinet Quintet with the Maggini Quartet, and Howard Blake’s Clarinet Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for Pentatone. As a member of the LSO, Andrew’s playing can be heard on dozens of feature film and television soundtracks, including those for three Oscar-winning Best Pictures – Amadeus, Braveheart and The King’s Speech – as well as John Williams’s scores for the Star Wars and Harry Potter films. Much in demand as a teacher and woodwind consultant, Andrew gives master classes, coaches orchestras, and adjudicates competitions all around the world. He is Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Academy of Music; in 1996, he was awarded an Hon. Ram. Over the years, Andrew has taught at the Sydney Conservatory, Australian National Academy (Melbourne), Juilliard School, Hong Kong Academy and Accademia de la Musica (Rome), while also coaching players with the New World Symphony in Miami. He is a regular panelist for the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, serves on the Advisory Committee of the Solti Foundation, and is a Trustee of the Hattori Foundation. As Sir Neville Marriner’s son, Andrew quite literally grew up along with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which for a time was headquartered in the family home. He was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, and sang on many of the choir’s signature recordings, including the celebrated version of the Allegri “Miserere” with Roy Goodman as solo treble. At the The King’s School, Canterbury, Andrew began serious study of the clarinet and, as a member of the National Youth Orchestra, had his first orchestral experience under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, with Lord Menuhin as soloist. After a brief time as an undergraduate at Oxford, Andrew chose to focus on the clarinet, travelling to Germany to study with Hans Deinzer in Hannover. Returning to London, Andrew freelanced for a time, while playing chamber music with the Chilingirian and Endellion String Quartets and forming a wind quintet, the Albion Ensemble, with friends from his NYO days. His break came in 1983, when the LSO needed a guest principal for a five-week world tour, thus beginning his remarkable career with the orchestra. Pre-covid, Andrew visited the west coast of America on three separate occasions: firstly, a teaching visit to Colburn school at the invitation of Yehuda Gilhad , where he also performed chamber music with their wonderful students; an April visit to perform the Mozart Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra plus a summer visit to coach at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara. With the LSO he enjoyed tours to New York, Japan, Thailand, Korea and China in addition to extensive European tours. He represented the Buffet Crampon and D’Addario companies, playing chamber music at both the International and European Clarinet Congresses. 2019 was his last year with the London Symphony Orchestra after a 41 year association, 34 of which as Principal Clarinet. His international teaching and recital commitments have recently taken him to Spain, Italy, Australia, China And Hong Kong. He will continue his association as chamber music partner with Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kozena in a further series of concerts throughout Europe in 2022. Andrew Marriner is a Buffet Crampon Artist and a D'Addario Woodwinds Artist.

Karel Dohnal (Czech Republic)

CLARINET

Clarinettist Karel Dohnal, a graduate of the Ostrava Conservatoire and Prague´s Academy of Music, laureat at the competitions in Prague, Roma, Bayreuth, Seville and London, is an active and valued soloist with a wealth of experience performing in many countries in Europe, Asia, South and North America. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Universität der Künste Berlin and Rimsky – Korsakov State Conservatory in Sankt Petersburg. As a principal clarinettist he cooperated with such a orchestras as BBC Symphony Orchestra London, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Solistes Européens Luxembourg and others. He is member of the State Opera Orchestra Prague, the Trio Amadeus, The Arundo Quartet and the PhilHarmonia octet. Karel is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Ostrava University and gives regulary master classes both at home and abroad. Karel Dohnal has built up a reputation as an erudite, technicaly outstanding and dedicated performer of modern and contemporary music, in particular, and is appreciated for his promotion of brand new or less frequently performed works. „There should always be respect for the composer„ he says, „but I like the fact that, to a certain extent, I can put the finishing touches to new works right there on the stage, and can respond with more immediacy to the atmosphere in the hall, to the audience and to the acoustic“. The clarinettist attracted also big attention with his numerous performances all around the world of Karlheinz Stockhausen´s 50-minute-long extravaganza Harlequin, where the musician, dressed in a harlequin costume, plays on the clarinet, dances and mimes as well. Critics write of extraordinary work enhaced by an inimitable, phenomenal interpretation. „Karel Dohnal's performance of Karelheinz Stockhausen's Harlequin was, quite simply, one of the most astonishing 45 minutes I've experienced.“ (Keith Bruce, Herald Scotland). Dohnal´s recordings are also higly successful. These include the CD (LH Promotion rec.,) feeturing clarinet concertos by Rudolf Kubín, Jean Francaix and Miloslav Kabeláč Concertante Symphony with the conductors Marko Ivanovič and Ondřej Vrabec and Prague Radio Symphony and Moravian Philharmonic orchestras. This CD by clarinettist was extremly well received by both listeners and critics: „ In recording these works, Karel Dohnal has proved once again his artistic sovereignty, bolstered by technical brilliance, crystal clear intonation, persuasiveness of expression, and his courage to enter some of the unchartered waters of the clarinet repertoire.“ (Harmonie Online). Most rececent CD „ Czech Music For Clarinet“ was nominated for Czech music Awards - Angel – Coca Cola. In 2021, Karel won the Amber Award in the Solist of the Year category. Last apperances includes solo concerts with Babmberger Symfoniker (Copland) Essener Philharmoniker (Copland, Mozart), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (Kabeláč, Štochl, Debussy), Györ Philharmonic (Kubín), Janacek Philharmonic (Hillborg), USC Symphony orchestra (Francaix).
Karel Dohnal is sponzored by Selmer Paris and D´Addario Woodwinds and plays on Selmer Recital clarinets and D´Addario Woodwinds Reserve classic reeds.

Igor Františák (Czech Republic)

CLARINET

Igor Františák studied at the Conservatory in Ostrava in the clarinet class of Dr. Valter Vítek from 1989–1995 and continued his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music of the University of Ostrava. In 2001 he received a government scholarship to study at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Prof. Hans Christian Braein. He has also performed as a soloist with the Janáček Philharmonic (conductors: Jakub Hrůša, Vladimír Válek, Valentin Uryupin, Heiko Mathias Förster), the Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra, the the Talich Chamber Orchestra and the Pavel Haas Quartet, Bennewitz Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet, Talich Quartet, among others. Recently he has been studying period interpretation on chalumeau, baroque clarinets and classical clarinets (he is a member of the Lotz Trio – historical basset horns, Collegium 1704, Musica Florea, Collegium Marianum, Ensemble Inégal, Oh! Orkiestra Historyczna or Terra Nova Collective). In 2002 he co-founded the successful annual International Interpretation Courses for Clarinet and Saxophone in Ostrava and has taught on this popular course ever since. He is also artistic director of the St. Wenceslas Music Festival. In addition to his concert activities, he teaches clarinet and chamber music as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music of University of Ostrava. Františák is an artist of Buffet Crampon, D’Addario Woodwinds and Gleichweit mouthpiece.

https://www.buffet-crampon.com/artist/igor-frantisak/

Philippe Portejoie (France)

SAXOPHONE

Philippe Portejoie studied the saxophone at the Conservatoire of Nantes with Jean-Pierre Magnac, before becoming a student of Daniel Deffayet at the National Academy of Music of Paris. He won many prices as soloist and chamber music player (Leopold Bellan, International Competition of UFAM, International Competition of Chamber music of Paris, International Competition of Aix Les Bains...). He played and recorded with numerous French Symphonic Orchestras as well as from abroad: Orchestra of Paris, National orchestra of France, Philharmonic orchestra of Radio-France, Orchestre Colonne, Orchestre of Ile-de-France, Paris Opera Orchestra, Orchestre of Toulouse, Orchestre Paysde-Loire, Philharmonie Slovak, Orquesta Sinfonica of Bogota...). Since 1986, he has shared his musical activities between the Duet saxophone-piano with Frederique Lagarde on the piano (9 recordings and more than 250 concerts) and the Claude Bolling Jazz Big Band where he is the lead saxophone (more than 500 concerts and 10 recordings). Philippe Portejoie indeed shares his musical activities between classical music, jazz as well as studio and movie/TV artist. He has played all over the world with a lot of key jazzmen such as Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Dizzie Gillespie, Stephan Grapelli, Didier Lockwood, John Faddis, John Hendryx, Benny Bailey, and Roger Guerin, Martial Solal, Gerard Badini, Claude Tissendier, Marcel Azzola and Sylvain Kassap... Philippe Portejoie is Professor of saxophone at the CRR de Paris and Conservatory Paul Dukas in Paris. He often gives master classes in France and abroad (Academy of Nice, Stage of Labaroche, Musical Rencontres of Lorraine, Conservatorio of Puerto Rico, Universities Javeriana and Nacional of Bogota and Antioquia of Medellin, Conservatoire Janacek d’ Ostrava, University of Ostrava, Warsaw Music Academy, Royal Conservatoire of Oslo, University of Seoul, University of Taipei...). Philippe Portejoie is artist of Buffet Crampon, D’Addario Woodwinds and BG France.

Paweł Gusnar (Poland)

SAXOPHONE

Saxophonist, chamber and session musician and educator; professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź. He studied saxophone performance at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy (now – University) of Music in Warsaw. In 2016 he was elected deputy vice-rector at that University. As a versatile artist open to many styles and forms of expression, he is one of the few saxophone players to be active as a high-class performer in all the three fields: of classical, jazz and popular music. His unique contributions to the composition and promotion of Polish music for that instrument include about a dozen Polish and foreign premieres every year. More than 70 works have been written specially for him by such composers as, among others, Bembinow, Błażejczyk, Cieślak, Drozd, Duchnowski, Dutkiewicz, Gronau-Osińska, Herdzin, Huszcza, Kaczorowski, Karałow, Konowalski, Kościow, Moss, M. T. Łukaszewski, P. Łukaszewski, Pokrzywińska, Przybylski, Sielicki, and Woś. In this number there are more than a dozen pieces with orchestra (by e.g. Krzysztof Penderecki, Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski, Krzysztof Knittel, Nikola Kołodziejczyk, Bartosz Kowalski, Krzysztof Herdzin, and Weronika Ratusińska) as well as some pioneering compositions setting new global trends. It is thanks to Gusnar that the Polish saxophone repertoire has found its way to major music centres worldwide. He also promotes Polish music by publishing a score series of his own name (The Paweł Gusnar Collection, publ. Ars Musica). 2018 saw the publication of his edition of Orchestral Studies for Saxophone. Paweł Gusnar gives performances in prestigious philharmonic and chamber music venues in Poland and abroad. As a soloist he has performed with such orchestras as, among others, Sinfonia Varsovia, NOSPR, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (POR), Sinfonia Iuventus, Amadeus, Concerto Avenna, Capella Bydgostiensis, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Sinfonia Baltica, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (PNRSO), Płock Symphony Orchestra, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Zagrebačka filharmonija, Croatia), the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, Great Britain), Orchestra Valentiana (France), Lviv Chamber Orchestra “Academia”, as well as nearly all the philharmonic orchestras in Poland. The artist regularly collaborates with numerous symphony orchestras including Warsaw Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (POR) as well as jazz and pop bands such as Adam Sztaba Orchestra, Zygmunt Kukla’s Kukla Band, Tomasz Szymuś Orkiestra and Krzysztof Herdzin’s ensembles. As a session musician he has recorded numerous television programmes for Polish state television TVP as well as other broadcasters: TVN and Polsat, among others. His vast discography comprises more than 60 CDs, including solo and original programmes. Some of the highlights have been: New Polish Music for Saxophone and Organ, Jazz Sonatas, Komeda Inspirations, Saxophone Impressions, Saxophone Varie, Saxophone Varie Vol. 2, Saxophone Varie Vol. 3, (Re)Discovering Woodwind Masterpieces (the first Polish recording of Glazunov’s Concerto in E-Flat Major Op. 109), and Penderecki’s Concerto Per Sassofono ed Orchestra. Frequently nominated for the Fryderyk Award of the Polish Phonographic Academy, he won this award four times: in 2014 for Saxophone Varie, in 2015 for Paweł Łukaszewski’s Musica Sacra 5, and in 2016 for the album Verbum Incarnatum (a collaboration with the Mulierum Schola Gregoriana Clamaverunt Iusti – in the category of “Early Music Album of the Year”). Paweł Gusnar has also been nominated for the prestigious title of Coryphaeus of Polish Music (2014, 2015, 2017). As an unquestionable authority in his field, he has been invited to serve on competition juries and teach master classes at the world’s major music centres from South Korea and China to Ukraine, Croatia, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Estonia, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain.

Arthur Motyka (Poland)

A graduate of the Rybnik State Music School of the 1st and 2nd degree Karol and Antoni Szafranek in the class of M. A. Krzysztof Biskup and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the saxophone class of senior lecturer. Bernard Steuer. In 2018, he obtained a doctor of arts degree at the Academy of Music in Wrocław in the class of prof. Mieczysław Stachura.
He actively participated in many master classes, working under the guidance of such outstanding saxophonists as: Arno Bornkamp (Netherlands), Jean-Marie Londeix (France), Claude Delangle (France), Jean-Yves Formeau (France), Otis Murphy (USA), Nobuya Sugawa (Japan), Masato Kumoi (Japan), Otto Vrhovnik (Austria), Lawrence Gwozdz (USA), Günter Priesner (Germany), Johannes Ernst (Germany), Detlef Bensman (Germany), Johan van der Linden (Netherlands), Radosław Knop (France), Andrzej Rzymkowski, Bernard Steuer, Eric Marienthal (USA), Bill Evans (USA) Jerzy Główczewski.
He has performed as a soloist with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rybnik Symphony Orchestra and the Okriestra of Larissa (Greece). He has collaborated many times with the following orchestras: Sinfonia Varsovia, Aukso, the Polish National Radio Orchestra, as well as the Orchestra of New Music, the Silesian Philharmonic, the Zabrze Philharmonic, the Częstochowa Philharmonic, the Zielona Góra Philharmonic and the FORUM in Wrocław.
He participated in various festivals, including: Warsaw Autumn, Wratislavia Cantans, Sacrum Profanum, Warsaw Music Meetings, Shrewsbury 24th International Music Festival (England), Sydney-Canberra 14th Intern.Music Festival (Australia), Music Festival in Kokkola (Finland), NEW YORK Wind Band Festival (USA) and also made recordings and premieres with the Polish National Radio Orchestra. Numerous first performances and a wide repertoire of contemporary music are the result of constant cooperation with composers of the young generation. He successfully gives concerts, also performing jazz and popular music. Winner of the Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Winner of national and international competitions. He currently teaches saxophone at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music of University of Ostrava.