|
The Polish double-bass and a viola da gamba player, Krzysztof Firlus, He graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied viola da gamba with Professor Mark Caudle, and double-bass with Dr. Jan Kotula, and also from postgraduate studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where he pursued studies in viola da gamba with Professor Vittorio Ghielmi. The artist has honed his skills with such excellent musicians as Rachel Podger, Reiner Zipperling, Catalin Rotaru, Thomas Martin, Klaus Trumpf, Rustem Gabdullin, Miloslav Gajdos, Miloslav Jelinek, Lew Rakov and Teppo Hauta -aho. He has held a scholarship from the the ‘Młoda Polska’ (Young Poland) scholarship programme, and has won prizes at international and national double-bass competitions competitions (Andernach, Brno, Wrocław, Żory, Poznań, Łódź, Dąbrowa Górnicza).
Krzysztof Firlus has combined the career of a double-bass and a viola da gamba player with great success, performing on both instruments as a soloist, chamber musician and an orchestra musician. He has been associated with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, Ensemble Chimérique and Extempore Ensemble of 17th and 18th Century Music, and the Gambasada viola consort. He has also performed with leading Polish ensembles such as the Silesian Quartet, Concerto Polacco, Capella Cracoviensis, as well a Le Poeme Harmonique (France) and BachAkademie Stuttgart (Germany). Additionally, he has collaborated with Helmuth Rilling, Vincent Dumestre, Paul McCreesh, Giancarlo Guerrero, Martyna Pastuszka, Aline Zylberajch, Marek Toporowski, and Marcin Świątkiewicz.
His extensive discography includes ‘Music by French Master - Music of the Warsaw Castle’ with the {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna (solo part in the concerto for viola da gamba Le Phénix by Michel Corrette), ‘Tansman - from trio to octet’ (with the Silesian Quartet), ‘Progressive Baroque’ (with the Nikola Kołodziejczyk Orchestra; the ‘Fryderyk 2016’ Award of the Polish recording industry), ‘Music in Dresden in the Times of Augustus II the Strong’ (with Martyna Pastuszka and Marcin Świątkiewicz) and ‘Lithuanian birbyne and Seventeenth Century Music of Poland and Lithuania’ (with Marek Toporowski and Ensemble Reversio). His forthcoming projects include a recording of Carl Friedrich Abel's sonatas for viola da gamba and basso continuo (from the Milicz collection discovered in the University Library in Poznań), with his wife, Anna Firlus.
Krzysztof Firlus pursues a teaching career as a member of faculty of the Music Academy in Katowice (the class of viola da gamba) and the Music Academy in Kraków (the class of double-bass). |
