About the band

"Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim, klezmer band from Cracow became the prize-winner of the prestigious cultural prize awarded each year by the Council of Europe.

(...) I could hardly believe it - says Rafal Seweryniak – when dr Ernst Seidel, one of the Secretaries of the Council of Europe informed me about that personally by phone. The speech day took place in Basle, in the decorous interior of old assembly hall of a local university. (...) One of the laureates decorated with the Cross of Merit "Pro Arte" was Sir Peter Ustinov, an actor, animator of culture, the man of great heart, (...) Sir Peter – says Mariola- despite the fact, that he was besieged by journalists and cameramen came to us behind the scenes, greeted us Good day in Polish and said few warm words about our music. We have really felt to be distinguished ones."

"Galicia closer to Europe. Basle. The Cracow klezmers awarded a prize"
Izabela Bobbé, Gazeta Wyborcza, Cracow 1999

The band in artistic creativity refers back to the tradition of Klezmer music. The musicians by personalising it entirely attempting in its own unique way to extract and underline only these features which are according to the artist the most important ones. Poetic and melancholic melodic interweaves with fervent and extatic spontainety creating the space filled up with the wide scale of colours and emotions. The classical and academic education cannot be omitted here as well. Virtuosity, the care for sound and detail in connection with great musical sensitivity give these compositions aesthetically refined shape. Apart from compositions based on original Klezmer melodies in the repertoire of Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim there are more and more their own pieces.

Among the most important achievements of the band are the following:

• the representation of Poland on a concert entitled "Magic of One Evening" in Luxembourg commemorating the 1st anniversary of the extension of the European Union (each new country was represented by only three musical groups)
• the concert in celebration of the Polish Day on EXPO 2000 in Hannover
• the 1st prize in the "1st Chopin Open Competition for all instruments except the piano"

Since 1998 the band has been made up of the following musicians:

Mariola Spiewak
	"Było w tym coś magicznego gdy po raz pierwszy kolega zaprosił mnie na koncert muzyki klezmerskiej. Byłam zafascynowana choć nawet przez myśl mi nie przeszło, że sama mogłabym tak grać. Ta melancholia, ekstatyka, ten niewiarygodny natłok emocji, to wszystko wydawało mi się wtedy nieosiągalne dla mnie jako wykonawcy. Zupełny przypadek zadecydował, że właśnie w tej muzyce znalazłam swoje spełnienie." Graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Cracow in 2000. While pursuing her studies, she developed a profound interest for Klezmer music. At that time she performed with one of the bands at Kazimierz, the former Jewish Quarter of Cracow. In 1996, her husband Grzegorz and she formed their own band, Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim. She wrote her master thesis on the history of Klezmer music. She has co-arranged the Mayority of pieces in the trio’s repertoire.
Grzegorz Spiewak
	"Przez wiele lat mieszkałem w Krakowie na Kazimierzu (dawna dzielnica żydowska). Z każdym dniem przesiąkałem historią, kulturą, całym klimatem i duchem tego miejsca. Po pewnym czasie uświadomiłem sobie, że chciałbym również wyrażać swoje uczucia i emocje w muzyce żydowskiej - klezmerskiej. Czynię to przez wiele lat i wciąż ją odkrywam, wciąż mnie zaskakuje i daje wiele radości." Graduated from the Academy of Music in Cracow in 1999. He won awards in competitions both as a soloist and a chamber musician. He collaborated with one of the bands performing at Kazimierz. Later he co-founded Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim. He has focused on Klezmer music for a few years now, gaining remarkable experience in the field. He has arranged most of the ensemble’s repertoire. Since 1998 he has also been giving accordion classes in a secondary music school in Cracow.
Rafal Seweryniak
	"Muzyka, którą gramy daje mi dużą swobodę wykonawczą. Mogę bez przeszkód realizować różnorodne rozwiązania zwłaszcza z zakresu artykulacji i brzmienia, które w tradycyjnym, konserwatywnym wykonawstwie byłyby nie na miejscu. Odnajduję tu pewne analogie do praktyki wykonawczej muzyki baroku, która pasjonuje mnie od dawna. Może właśnie dlatego nasze wspólne muzykowanie jest dla mnie tak atrakcyjne." Graduated from the Academy of Music in Cracow in 1998. He joined Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim in the same year. Beside Klezmer music, his artistic activities focus on baroque music. He is interested in the historical performance practices and specializes in playing the baroque double bass and violone. His master thesis was devoted to the history of double bass. He has perfected his skills in numerous master-classes (with the members of the Orchestra of the 18th Century) and summer courses (Summer School of Early Music, Warsaw). He performed with Cracow’s early music ensembles including Collegium Cracoviense, In Concerto and also cooperated with Consortium Sedinum, Gaudium musicandi, Il Tempo.

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The most important events

Prizes

• European Music Prize awarded by the Society for Culture Promotion by the European Economic Circles and the Foundation of the European Prizes (Basle, Old University Hall, December 1998)
• the first prize at "Chopin Open" - the 1st Chopin Open Competition for All Instruments Except for the Piano (Cracow, Academy of Drama and Theatre, June 1999)

Concerts

Recordings

CD-s:

	"Nokh Amol" - Tylkomuzyka.pl, Cracow, September 2004 (former Art CD, Cracow, December 2003) For listening: MySpace
	"Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim" - Tylkomuzyka.pl, Cracow, June 2004 (former Art CD, Cracow, June 2000) The CD review: Virtual Klezmer (in German)

Radio and Television:

• music for Polish TV documentary film "Polish Hotel", written and directed by Kama Veymont (2009)
• composing and recording of the music for documentary film "My Thesis Harry" by Daniel B. Burns (Cracow, January 2008)
• life recording of the concert for Bavarian Radio (Coburg, January 2005)
• "Equinoxe" Programme of France Culture Radio (Paris, September 2004)
• "Lost Horizons" - Polish Season by Jean-Pierre Amann - a broadcast of ESPACE 2 Programme, Romansch Switzerland Radio (Cracow, November 2001)
• Polish TV documentary films: "Shalom Ash Festival in Kutno" (Lodz, November 2001), "The City of Three Cultures" (Wlodawa, November 1999), "The Landscape with Singer" (Cracow, May 1998)

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Press

"(...) Inviting this masterly trio of soloists, whose fabulously congruous play evoked gasps of admiration from the audience, was an absolute hit. (...) Mariola Spiewak demonstrated all the nuances of the clarinet: melancholic sighs as well as unhindered joy and terrible shrieks, the music both as soft as velvet and as sharp as the sword. (...)"

"A fantastic final chord. The series of concerts "Music in old village churches"
was closed with a performance of an exceptionally gifted Polish Klezmer trio"
Hans-Peter Metternich, Westerwaldkreis 13.09.2006

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"(...) The music is so good that no one should look around the town now. (...) Yiddish music of the highest quality. (...)"

"Extremely popular concert in "Summer in the City".
Cracow Trio made the day beautiful in Unterstadt."
Grenz-Echo, Eupen 20.07.2006

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"(...) Mariola Spiewak turned out to be a talented clarinet player. Beside technical virtuosity, her nearly inexhaustible richness of modulation in all positions, with grace notes and glissandos, so typical for Klezmer music, evoked true admiration. Grzegorz Spiewak demonstrated great virtuosity, not only in the high range of his accordion playing but also in the bass register. As the arranger of the trio, he has managed to invest traditional Klezmer sound with chamber music quality. Rafal Seweryniak, who plucked the gut strings of his double bass or applied the baroque bow to it, created not only the basis, but also occasionally influenced the musical action. (...)"

"Melancholy, Meditation and Ecstasy"
Hans Höfer, Coburger Tageblatt, Coburg 02.02.2005

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"(...) Their cheerful, merry music was far from what we are normally offered. (...) Mariola Spiewak must have made her decision to take up the clarinet under a really lucky star (...). Her whispering pianissimos, her fortissimos filling the whole concert hall, gentle sighs, gurgling, high notes, and virtuoso cascades of sounds made even the oldest listeners jump up from their seats and provoked cries of delight and admiration. (...)"

"Concert of Klezmer music in Rueckert School, Coburg, full of joy of life"
Dr Peter Müller, Neue Presse, Coburg 01.02.2005

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"(...) To say that Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim just embellish Klezmer music with new attire would be too gross a simplification. (...) The music they play smacks of bolero and tango, or reminds one of Debussy. While the accordion (...) sounds as the piano. Their perfection stems from their virtuoso play; alterations of tempo are staggeringly beautiful but the players still remember about conveying the mood. (...)"

"Klezmer music: joyful side of Jewish culture. Galician trio in "Traumstern" cinema:
Rather orchestra than dance combo - from shtetl into wide world"
Giessener Allgemeine, Lich 11.11.2004

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"(...) Right after the first chords it seemed that the player, the instrument and the tune were inseparable. With her harmonious movements, fully engrossed in music she was playing, Mariola Spiewak managed to suggest to the audience her unification not only with the instrument, but also with the sounds. She demonstrated a whole range of her instrumental contribution to the music played by the band in an hour-and-a-half-long performance of raising and falling passages: playing shy, subtle bits before strong, forceful sounds that due to their force could have been confused with the sounds of the saxophone. (...) In a brilliant "conversation" among the double bass, the accordion and the clarinet, the musicians managed to convey to the enchanted audience the whole charm of Klezmer music (...) and the historical weight of the music whose ancient character seems so palpable. (...)"

"Can’t sit still"
Lippische Landeszeitung, Lemgo 19./20.06.2004

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Timetable

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Concert plans

Poland

4 February:
Cracow (Galicia Jewish Museum), 19:00h., Klezmer music concerts
more info: Galicia Jewish Museum

9 February:
Cracow (Rubinstein Hotel), 19:00h., "Klezmer Music at Helena Rubinstein House"
more info: Pro-Arts

17 February:
Kielce (Swietokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce), 19:00h., "Completion of the carnival" - concert with Swietokrzyska Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adam Klocek
more info: Swietokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce

18 February:
Cracow (Galicia Jewish Museum), 19:00h., Klezmer music concert
more info: Galicia Jewish Museum

23 February:
Cracow (Rubinstein Hotel), 19:00h., "Klezmer Music at Helena Rubinstein House"
more info: Pro-Arts

25 February:
Wroclaw (White Stork Synagogue), Havdalah Concerts
more info soon on: Pro-Arte Foundation

April/May:
Niepolomice, Recording session for the 3rd CD - second part (Preisner Studio)

Germany

10 May:
Hoyerswerda
more info: Agentur Fischermann

26 October:
Annweiler
more info: Agentur Fischermann

Poland

November:
Inowroclaw (Jan Kasprowicz City Library)
more info soon on: Jan Kasprowicz City Library

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Download

Gallery - 14 photos, .jpg 14 MB (total size of all)	Info leaflet without photos, 4 pages A5 (2 pages in duplex printing on A4), .pdf, 239 KB	Info with photos, press reviews, 12 pages A4, .pdf, 1,3 MB
Technical rider 1 page A4, .pdf, 172 KB	* * *	Poster with info in English, German and Polish, 98,5 cm x 68,5 cm, .pdf, 5,4 MB
Concert posters 72 cm x 51 cm, .jpg
15,8 MB	14,7 MB	13,7 MB
12,8 MB	13,4 MB	14,9 MB

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Contact

e-mail: Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim
Rafal Seweryniak
Mobile: +48 609 475 980

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Links

	Biblioteka Polskiej Piosenki - Polish Song Library
	Fischermann Agency
	Pro-Arts Art Agency
	Q4Q Artistic Impresario

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