Silesian String Quartet - NOSPR

Operating continuously since 1978, the ensemble has a repertoire of over 400 chamber pieces, with around 300 of them originating in the 20th and 21st centuries. The chamber musicians of Silesian String Quartet have premiered over 100 string quartets by Polish and foreign composers, with a significant number of works dedicated to them. Their discography comprises over 50 records, many of them honoured with prestigious phonographic awards. The current members of the ensemble are: Szymon Krzeszowiec (violin I), Arkadiusz Kubica (violin II), Łukasz Syrnicki (viola), and Piotr Janosik (cello).

Chamber music is a philosophy.

Chamber music is the most intimate part of a composer’s output.

Chamber music serves as its author’s dialogue with the world, the author’s dialogue with the maker, a dialogue between the participating instruments.

Chamber music is the quintessence of music, the truth and nothing but the truth.

The ‘51 generation was beginning its adult life almost simultaneously with the foundation of the Silesian String Quartet. The composers, although belonging to the same musical circle, were initially our older colleagues, ones who knew more, felt more, and acted more. It later proved, however, that we are mutually interdependent, as it often is in music: the composer relies on the performer and the performer relies on the composer. The professional reliance gave birth to friendships, ones that have continued for over 40 years and, most importantly, have not ceased to produce new compositions. Some of the first pieces the Silesian String Quartet was entrusted with premiering were: Aleksander Lasoń’s Chamber Music No. 1„Stalowa Wola”, Eugeniusz Knapik’s String Quartet No. 1 and Andrzej Krzanowski’s String Quartet No. 2. For the young performers, everything in those pieces was new and surprising, but also moving and enriching. Thanks to those pieces, we could enter the composers’ intimate worlds and, over the years, playing subsequent pieces, deepen our discoveries. Does this mean that today we know each other, as they say, like the backs of our hands? Nothing could be farther from the truth, as each new piece, and even a new arrangement, shows us the composer’s soul from a different perspective or in a different light. This is the most fascinating aspect of first performances.