Early Music Ensemble
Perfugium
The Early Music Ensemble PERFUGIUM was founded in 1997 on the initiative of a group of young people singing in the schola of the Dominican ministry “Przystań” in Krakow. From the very beginning, the group’s main field of interest was the sacred music of olden times and traditional songs of the Church in Poland. For over 10 years, the team has been working and serving in the church of St. Mark in Krakow. Our meeting and singing for many years resulted from the admiration for the beauty and God presence in the music we perform. The ensemble is a space for us to meet Him. We traveled through the whole Poland with concerts, performed in churches, synagogues, churches, opera stages and concert halls, in the open air. PERFUGIUM is an adventure that lasts.
Who?
For 20 years, the core of the group is still the same – today we can say that it is a family team. The sopranos are sung by: Bogumiła Kowalska, Natalia Kucia-Szymor, Joanna Przybyłowska and Bożena Solarz. Alta is Zofia Draus, Anna Iwan and Magdalena Rychlak. In tenors we can hear Paweł Iwan, Mateusz Kowalski and Mateusz Solarz. Bass is sung by Wojciech Butryn and Piotr Przybyłowski. The artistic director of PERFUGIUM from the very beginning of the band’s existence is the gambist Mateusz Kowalski.
What do we do?
The ensemble has won prizes and awards at choral competitions in Poland. It took second place in the “chamber choirs” category during the 14th Carol and Pastorals Competition in Myślenice, received the Golden String at the choral competition in Niepołomice and the honourable mention during the 4th edition of the Cantate Domino competition co-organized by the Academy of Music in Krakow. The band’s achievements include several CDs. Thank you Sir – Missa de Misericordia with the works of Paweł Bębenek – a Krakow composer associated with the Dominican environment, was published in 2004 by the Edition of Saint Paul of Paulist Fathers from Częstochowa. Two independent discs with early and traditional music – Alpha and Omega telling the story of the entire liturgical year, from the Annunciation to the Pentecost and Inviolata entirely devoted to the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary – were released in 2007 and 2008 respectively. In 2009, on the occasion of the great jubilee of the Order of the Bonifratri, the band and the lutenist Antoni Pilch recorded the album Life of St. John of God with a song and prayer written down. Also in 2009, the album, When the Savior of the World with Christmas Carols, was published by Paweł Bębenek. In 2016, the band took part in the recording of the album Floripari – Wawel Musicians, with Old Spanish songs Cantigas de Santa Maria, in the Polish translation of Magdalena Sendor. The album and the songbook were released by the Dominican Liturgical Center. In 2017, joining the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, PERFUGIUM prepared a unique concert program – a combination of Protestant chorals from German and Polish sources with instrumental versions of these songs for viola da gamba, from the 17th century manuscript from Berlin. In May 2018, another PERFUGIUM album will be released, this time with an international repertoire of secular songs. Krakow – The Navel of the World is a story about the Polish capital during the Golden Age, when the city was inhabited by a colorful community of people who came from all parts of Europe.
In 2017, we started cooperation with the inCanto Foundation. Together, we want to implement new concerts and publishing projects. We share the DELIGHT over music and beauty, which has become the Foundation’s showcase. We hope that this is the beginning of a new path, discovering new horizons and possibilities.
The band’s official website is www.perfugium.eu
〰
