Mateusz Kowalski
He studied viola da gamba at the Krakow Conservatory W. Lutosławski in the class of Kazimierz Pyzik and at the Music Academy in Cracow with Marcin Zalewski. In 2009 he obtained a diploma with distinction at this university. He perfected his skills at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, studying with Philipp Pierlot and Rainer Zipperling. He participated in gambate courses and lessons led by musicians such as Paulo Pandolfo, Marianne Muller, Petr Wagner, Christine Plubeau, Mark Caudle and in orchestral projects under the direction of Jacques Ogg and Manfred Cordes.
He is a member of the Floripari band specializing in Renaissance music, which is based in the Wawel Royal Castle. He also performs in several other early music formations in Poland – Ars Cantus, Consortium Sedinum, Camerata Cracovia – in the international group Ensemble Barocum and the Vilnius Brevis Consort. He performs with these bands in Poland and abroad (including the Netherlands, Scotland, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Western Australia). He also cooperates with the Cracovia Danza Court Ballet and the Capella Cracoviensis band. Together with the gambian trio, Gambasada won the first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition of Early Music – Żory 2012. Since 2013, he has been an assistant in the viola da gamba class of the Krakow Academy of Music.
He runs the vocal group Perfugium, whose main field of interest is the religious music of olden times and traditional songs of the Church in Poland. He released five CDs with the band. He collaborates with the Dominican Liturgical Center, taking part in recordings and conducting liturgical music workshops. For several years he was a member of the Brotherhood of Lute from Dwór na Wysoka, a vocal group led by the lutenist Antoni Pilch. With this band he took part in many prestigious concerts and performances: Festival d’Ile de France (as part of the Polish Year in France), representation of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship at the Expo Hannover ‘2000 exhibition, concerts at the invitation of the Polish Consulate in Barcelona, three times in the Trialogos Festival in Tallinn (there, among others, joint performances with the Estonian band Linnamusikud and Sirin from Moscow), a concert with the trumpeter Tomasz Stańko (a combination of Polish passion song with jazz improvisation).