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Altberg Ensemble is a baroque orchestra from Łódź, founded in 2017 by cellist Jakub Kościukiewicz. The group consists of musicians, who specialise in historical performance and play period instruments or their copies, using historically informed techniques. Artistic paths led each member of the ensemble to Łódź.
The debut of the ensemble took place on August 13, 2017 in Tum near Łęczyca during 18th Kolory Polski Festival. Its appearance was soon appreciated by artistic environment of Łódź and brought the ensemble “Armatka Kultury” 2017 - an award in the plebiscite of cultural magazine Kalejdoskop, as well as the performance in Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź in the following year. In 2018 Altberg Ensemble, led by an outstanding Swiss harpsichordist, organ player and conductor Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, took part in concert series Bach 200 UW (200 Bach Cantatas for 200 Years of Warsaw University).
Since 2019 the ensemble performs regularly in Łódź and in the Voivodeship of Łódź with concert series Baroque Lodz. It is also recognized in Poland thanks to appearances at festivals such as Dramma per Musica in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, The Baroque Scene of Bydgoszcz, Baroque in Masuria, and also during Bach 200 UW concert series or at Concerts for Peace in Church of Peace in Jawor. It is a regular guest of Artists’ Retreat in Radziejowice Palace, a museum and a centre for artistic work, research and activity located near Warsaw.
The ensemble has co-operated with many celebrated singers: Anna Mikołajczyk, Olga Pasiecznik, Karol Kozłowski, Jakub Józef Orliński, Aleksander Rewiński, Michał Sławecki, Kacper Szelążek, Rafał Tomkiewicz and with acclaimed leaders, like harpsichordist and organ player Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, violinist Olivia Centurioni, oboist Alfredo Bernardini or recorder player, musicologist and conductor Peter Van Heyghen. In April 2022 Altberg Ensemble published the first CD with Georg Philipp Telemann “Suites & Concerto” recorded with Peter Van Heyghen as conductor for DUX Recording Producers (DUX 1761).
An idea, bringing together all the members of the ensemble is to study and to perform instrumental and vocal-instrumental works of 17th and 18th century. The name of the ensemble was inspired by the figure of Emma Altberg (1889-1983), a harpsichordist and a pianist. After World War II, that remarkable student of Wanda Landowska opened and taught in the first Polish harpsichord class at State Higher School of Music in Łódź. |
