The ensemble, which includes a chamber orchestra, a madrigal group, a male vocal ensemble (Rorantists) and an independent brass group, perform oratorios and cantatas. Their repertoire extends from medieval to contemporary music. In order to achieve an authentic sound, the musicians use instruments appropriate for a given period. Polish music features prominently – be it early music written in Kraków (Mikołaj from Radom, Krzysztof Borek, Mikołaj Gomółka, Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczyck and others), or contemporary (Zbigniew Bujarski, Krzysztof Meyer, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Marek Stachowski and others) .
Capella Cracoviensis has performed in most European countries (including the Vatican, where it gave a special concert for Pope John Paul II and the Roman Curia), the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The musicians have also taken part in prestigious European festivals, such as Haydn Festspiele Brühl, Bachfest Leipzig, SWR Festspiele and Händel Festspiele Halle. The orchestra has numerous recordings of early, classical and contemporary music. It has worked with Vincent Dumestre (Le Poème Harmonique), Fabio Bonizzoni (La Risonanza), Alessandro Moccia (Orchestre des Champs-Élysées), Andrew Parrott, Paul Goodwin, as well as the Oltremontano Ensemble, the Accademia Bizantina, Fretwork, Nachtmusique, Paul McCreesh, Giuliano Carmignola, Christophe Rousset (Les Talens Lyriques), and others.
The Capella Cracoviensis Choir accompanied eminent performers at the Misteria Paschalia Festival and the Opera Rara series, such as Fabio Biondi, Marc Minkowski, Le Poème Harmonique and La Venexiana ensemble under Claudio Cavina. Their virtuosity has resulted in two releases for the prestigious French label Alpha | Outhere Music: Te Deum by Charpentier and Lully (Alpha 952) and a set of Bach motets (Alpha 199).
In 1992, Capella Cracoviensis received two prestigious awards for their recordings of Darius Milhaud’s music (6 Chamber Symphonies and Trois Operas Minutes), namely: the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Gros. During the 1992/93 season Capella Cracoviensis performed an opera for the first time. It was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which was then presented to the American audience as part of the ensemble’s tour in the United States. Their repertoire also includes other Baroque and neo-classical opera performances like Handel’s Amadigi, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.
In November 2008, Jan Tomasz Adamus, a renowned organist, harpsichordist, conductor and animator of musical life, became the head and artistic director of Capella Cracoviensis.
Sources: Polish Music Information Centre, Polish Composers’ Union and materials of the ensemble, ed. AG, 3.12.2013, updated: AW, transl. Bozhana Nikolova, April 2015.
