“A ROJAK OF SOUNDS” Botanic Gardens Concert

Prof. Pomianowska is a renowned Polish multi-instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist who creates a unique bridge between European and Asian music traditions.

Originally trained as a classical cellist, she is best known for performing on rare reconstructed Polish instruments such as the Biłgoraj suka and the Płock fiddle – using techniques inspired by Asian instruments. This approach places Polish musical heritage in direct conversation with Chinese, Indian, Persian and Middle Eastern traditions, transforming historical instruments into contemporary tools for intercultural collaboration.

Her music blends Polish folk roots and echoes of Frédéric Chopin with Asian styles of melody, rhythm, and improvisation, creating performances that feel both traditional and globally inspired.

Having collaborated with artists like Yo-Yo Ma and musicians from across countries, her concerts offer audiences a rich, cross-cultural journey – where different musical worlds meet in a deeply expressive and accessible way.

Prof. Pomianowska has released over twenty critically acclaimed albums, received Poland’s highest cultural honours, and is widely regarded as one of Europe’s leading figures in intercultural music practice. Her work offers an ideal platform for co-creation with local musicians, educational institutions and cultural authorities, positioning music as a living space for dialogue between traditions.

Alongside her international performance career, she is Professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków and Artistic Director of the Cross-Culture Festival in Warsaw, where she curates and mentors large-scale intercultural projects. Education, transmission of heritage, and collaboration with local artists are central to her practice.

Piotr Kopietz is the founder, co-founder and artistic director of over twenty bands and music projects, with which he presents classical, popular, improvised and world music at the most renowned music festivals and on illustrious concert stages. As a session artist, he records classical and popular music for radio, television, theatre and film. As a soloist-accordionist, he collaborated, among m.in, with the Oscar winner, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, recording the composer’s music.

A graduate of the Academy of Music in Warsaw in the accordion class. He perfected his performance skills during a scholarship at the University of Music in Graz (Austria). He is one of the few musicians in Poland who play the Argentine national instrument – the bandoneon and is one of the few artists who give concerts on an extremely rare instrument – the French accordion.

In the field of composition, he is particularly fond of film and theatre illustrative music and the broad concept of “world music”. The eminent Brazilian artist and conductor, Jose Maria Florencio, said: “… [thanks to the work of Piotr Kopietz] Poland is beginning to be a place where compositions for bandoneon and tango are created at least as great as Astor Piazzolla himself.“