Szymanowski Quartet, Marina Baranova & Damian Marhulets
Biography Szymanowski Quartet, Marina Baranova & Damian Marhulets
Szymanowski Quartet
Founded in 1995, the Szymanowski Quartet is one of the most remarkable string quartets of its generation. Their sophisticated programmes are performed with a perfect balance of intellect and passion, earning them warmth and enthusiasm throughout Europe, North and South America, the Far East and Australia.
The quartet has won prizes and awards from major international competitions including those in Melbourne, Hannover, Osaka and Florence. In 2005 the Karol Szymanowski Foundation in Warsaw bestowed on them the Szymanowski Award, the first time this award was given to a string quartet. In 2007, the Polish government awarded them a Medal of Honour for services to Polish culture.
The quartet studied chamber music with Hatto Beyerle at the University of Music and Drama in Hanover. They have studied further with Isaac Stern, Walter Levin, the Amadeus and Emerson Quartets, the Juilliard String Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet.
The ensemble performs throughout the world in major concert halls: New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and Shanghai Symphony Hall. Their annual North American tours have included concerts in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Vancouver and Montreal. The ensemble is a regular guest at prominent international festivals including Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, "Schubertiade", Schwetzingen and Lockenhaus as well as in Luxemburg, Paris, London, Warsaw, Moscow, Cheltenham, Basel, Bath and Perth. In 2008 the SQ founded the Lviv Chamber Music Festival at the UNESCO World Heritage site on the border between the Ukraine and Poland.
In addition to classical and romantic repertoire, the Szymanowski Quartet is commitment to contemporary music, including in its repertoire works by Magnus Lindberg, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Matan Daniel Porat and others , several of whom have dedicated works to the Quartet.
The Szymanowski Quartet feels a particular connection to the UK, having been BBC New Generation Artists. They have played throughout the country, with appearances at festivals throughout the UK and at venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and the Wigmore Hall, London.
Damian Marhulets
is a Germany based composer, artist and producer. Damian's musical education began at the age of 6, when he was accepted to prestigious Minsk College of Music. It was not long until Damian began performing as an oboe soloist with some of the most renowned orchestras in the country and abroad. Still in his early childhood, Damian became a prizewinner of major international music competitions. His music career took a new turn in 2000 when he relocated to Germany. Following his artistic inquisitiveness he soon immersed himself in underground experimental music scene. His musical education shifted from oboe performance to modern composition and electronic music, that he studied first at the Music Academy Hannover and later in Cologne.
Damian has won a multitude of grants and stipends, such as the composition-stipends by the cultural affair department of the Lower Saxony and the European Culture Program. As an artist-in-residence he worked at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, ACROE Institute Grenoble, IONIAN University Corfu, STEIM Amsterdam and others.
Recent projects of Damian include large-scale stage performances combining acoustic instruments with electronics and visuals developed in collaborations with such renowned musicians as David Krakauer, award winning classical guitarist Frank Bungarten, Szymanowski String Quartet – one of the most prominent international sting quartets of its generation, as well as exceptional pianist and composer Marina Baranova.
Besides from writing concert music as well as music for theater, film and dance he toured all over Europe and USA, having played his own music at many different modern music festivals and alternative DJ clubs.
Drawn upon his long term fascination for radical fringes of music making Damian feels most comfortable when blurring lines between musical genres. Combining his concert music roots with sound-design skills and years-long experience as an electronic music producer, he throws away conventional music clichés in order to develop original music language and explore new sonic landscapes.
He has performed worldwide including Berliner Philharmonie, Beethovenfest Bonn, Music Triennial Cologne, BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, "Re:New" Digital Art Festival Copenhagen, Philharmonic Hall Essen, Berghain Club in Berlin, die Glocke - Bremen, Music21 Festival Hannover as well as many others.
His multimedia works were presented at many different galleries and museums of modern art including Kestnergesellschaft (Hanover), Sprengel Museum (Hanover), Art Center (Berlin), Kunstsaele (Berlin), Diapason Sound Art Gallery (NYC), DAVID vzw Gallery (Ghent) and Lortzing ART Gallery (Hanover).
Damian's music has been broadcasted by NDR Hanover, WDR and German Radio.
