Ars Nova. Photo courtesy of www.arsnovapolonia.eu
"Ars Nova" specialises in European music of the XIII-XVI century and is one of the leading groups of this kind in Poland. The band has performed in the most important concert halls in Poland and abroad. "Ars Nova" has also recorded its repertoire for on CD and for the Polish radio and television. One of its most fundamental phonographic achievements are never before recorded masterpieces of the Polish Middle Ages and Renaissance. The band was nominated for many prestigious Polish awards, including the phonographic industry's Fryderyki. In '96 they won for their record of the Polish Renaissance Melodies for the Polish Psalter by Mikołaj Gomółka.
The band has collaborated with a number of eminent Polish vocalists: Andrzej Hiolski, Jerzy Artysz, Łucją Prus and Jadwig Rappé, reaching for newer Polish music. Among its soloists, it boasts: Mariusz Gebel, Jadwiga Teresa Stępień, Henryka Januszewska, Apolonia Nowak, Anna Mikołajczyk, Marcin Szczyciński, Dariusz Paradowski, Artur Stefanowicz, Krzysztof Szmyt, Cezary Szyfman, Robert Gierlach, Grzegorz Zychowicz, Mirosław Borczyński, Janusz Cabała, Lieven Baert, Agnieszka Budzińska, Maria Krupowies, as well as known actors: Zofia Rysiówna, Zofia Kucówna, Teresa Budzisz-Krzyżanowska, Joanna Kasperek, Krzysztof Wakuliński, Wojciech Siemion, Gustaw Holoubek.
Ars Nova cooperated with many bands as well: Bornus Consort, Studio 600, Il Canto, Collegium Vocale, Oni Wytars, Chierlycke Danseryen. During its 20 years of activity the band has played 484 concerts nationally and abroad and recorded 14 albums. They also took part in plays of the Opery Narodowej (Ludus Danielis, Jadwiga Królowa Polska) and Warszawskiej Opery Kameralnej (Cantigas de Santa Maria).
What the band is most comfortable with is the instrumental and vocal repertoire of the Polish and European music from the "The Autumn of the Middle Ages" and Renaissance periods. "Ars Nova" is the only orchestra whose regular repertoire includes the complete works of Mikołaja z Radomia, Piotra z Grudziądza, Krzysztofa Klabona.
The "Ars Nova" repertoire includes: the complete works of Mikołaj from Radom (ca. 1420 ) and Piotra z Grudziądza (ca. 1430 ), works that come from Rękopisu Krasińskich (XV C.) and Raczyński Manuscript (XV C.), the Polish liturgy sequence from the XIII-XV century, Music of the Silesian Piast Dynasty XIII-XV C. (from the collection of the University of Wrocław), Psalms by Mikołaj Gomółka with text by Jana Kochanowskiego (1580), Reneissnace dances from the Tabulatury Jana z Lublina (1540), Polish passion songs from the XV-XVI century, Old Polish Christmas carols from the XVI-XVIII century, pieces by Hildegarda from Bingen, Notre Dame Mass by Guillaume de Machaut (XIV w.), ballades and virelai by Guillaume de Machaut, Kurpie chants by Apolonia Nowak as well as chants by Fryderyk Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko. The band also performs contemporary pieces written for ancient instruments by such composers as: Edward Sielicki, Rafał Stradomski, Kazimierz Serocki, Tadeusz Baird, Juliusz Łuciuk, Paweł Szymański, Bernadetta Matuszczak, Jan Fotek, Zbigniew Wiszniewski, Piotr Moss, Krzysztof Baculewski, Krzysztof Knittel, Witold Lutosławski, Zygmunt Krauze, Paweł Mykietyn, Krzysztof Owczynik, Marcin Zalewski i Jacek Urbaniak.
Ars Nova
ul. Zakroczymska 2/2, 02-225 Warszawa
tel./fax (+48 22) 831 24 82
Author: Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, Polish Music Information Centre, Polish Composers' Union, November 2006. Translated by Agnieszka Zieleźnik, December 2010.