STRING QUARTET

Altra Volta

One of the most versatile Polish quartets playing classical, pop, jazz, folk and modern music. The ensemble is formed by exceptional artistic personalities: Jacek Dzwonowski, Jacek Heczko (violinists), Aleksandra Marko-Lech (violist), Michał Lech (cellist) – graduates of the Academy of Music in Katowice.

The group has been performing on European and world stages since 1998. The Altra Volta string quartet has given concerts to audiences in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Vatican, Switzerland, Slovakia, Turkey, Lithuania, Belarus, the Netherlands, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and China, as well as in Poland.

The Altra Volta quartet has performed:

• at the 75th, 76th, 78th and 79th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia (75th, 76th, 78th and 79th International Film Festival) with a series of concerts for Mastercard and Bulgari (Venice, Italy)
• during the Polish Days in Autumn in Chengdu 2017, Tianfu Concert Hall (Chengdu, China)
• at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music (Chengdu, China)
• at the Sichuan Library (Chengdu, China)
• at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland (New Delhi, India)
• during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and Sri Lanka (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
• at the Shri Ram Center (New Delhi, India)
• at the IFLAPARL World Conference, Polish Parliament of the Republic of Poland, Chancellery of the Senate of the Republic of Poland (Warsaw, Poland)
• at the 8th and 12th Summer Concert, Polish Institute (Vilnius, Lithuania)
• at the 49th National Festival of Polish Song – “Kora, Trójka i Debiuty – 30. urodziny Listy Przebojów” (Opole, Poland)
• at the opening of the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews (Markowa, Poland);
• at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany (Warsaw, Poland)
• at the International Festival “Crazy Music Days”, Grand Theatre – National Opera – premiere performance of a work by Régis Campo (Warsaw, Poland).

Musicians have given concerts as part of:

• International Festival “La Nuit de la Voix”, Opera Comique (Paris, France)
• International Festival “Crazy Days of Music”, Grand Theatre – National Opera (Warsaw, Poland)
• “Music Gardens Festival ”, Royal Castle (Warsaw, Poland)
  Classics at the City Hall Festival/Класіка ля Ратушы (Minsk, Belarus)
• World Youth Day, Teatro Bellas Artes (Madrid, Spain)
  

Recordings of the quartet have been broadcast on: Radio Classique, Vatican Radio, RMF Classic, Polskie Radio Katowice, Polskie Radio Opole, Mezzo television, TVP 2, TV Polonia, TV Katowice.

The Altra Volta string quartet has made CD records of piano concertos in chamber version for the Piotr Kler Foundation. The discs include:

Chopin Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11
Chopin Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 21
Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16
Van Beethoven Piano Concerto in C major Op. 15
A. Mozart 20th Piano Concerto in D minor (KV 466)
A. Mozart 21. Piano Concerto in C major (KV 467)
A. Mozart 23. Piano Concerto in A major (KV 488)
A. Mozart 24th Piano Concerto in C minor (KV 491)
S. Bach Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052.

The ensemble's discography also includes:

A Tribute to Cinema – Seventeen Songs from Great Movies (78th Mostra del Cinema di Venezia)

Vox ex Silesia (Silesian Institute)

Carols (Gazeta Specjalnej Strefy Ekonomicznej “Strefa”)

Carols and Pastorals (Tauron Polska Energia).

The quartet collaborates with many polish artists and ensembles (Stanisław Sojka, Klaudiusz Kaufmann, Krzysztof Cugowski, Chłopcy z Placu Broni, Łukasz Byrdy, Katowice City Singers' Ensemble "Camerata Silesia" and others) and Italian artists: Stefano Serafini, #ariamusicproject.

The ensemble has original musical projects to its credit, among them:

"Jazzbroque" – an unusual jazz project to which the musicians of the quartet invited one of Italy's leading jazz trumpeters – Stefano Serafini

"Soyka in Silesian" – a unique project originating from the fascination with the Upper Silesian folklore of artists connected to the Silesian land; Altra Volta invited the Polish jazz and pop singer Stanisław Soyka to the project.