In 2018, she made her debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival and led the Wiener Concert-Verein at the Vienna Music Society. At the Warsaw National Philharmonic, she led young musicians with the I, CULTURE Orchestra. She has also worked with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, Poznań Opera Symphony Orchestra and National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia.
In the 2019/2020 season, the conductor enjoyed success in the United States – she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and led Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. All this thanks to the Dudamel Fellowship, funded by one of the world’s most recognisable conductors – Gustavo Dudamel from Venezuela. As the second conductor, she took part in the recording of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4 for Deutsche Grammophon. Mark Swed wrote in the Los Angeles Times:
Normally, the second conductor in this piece stands aside and is barely noticeable. Dudamel placed Gardolińska right next to himself – she was noticed. She is slowly starting to make waves in Europe and is ready for even greater successes.
Gustavo Dudamel was honoured with a Grammy in the Best Orchestral Performance category for the CD Charles Ives: Complete Symphonies, in the recording of which Gardolińska participated.
Opera
Opera plays an important role in Gardolińska’s repertoire. As an assistant, she accompanied Tadeusz Kozłowski with rediscovering works by Polish composers: Legend of the Baltic by Feliks Nowowiejski (2017) and Manru by Ignacy Jan Paderewski (2018).
In 2020, she conducted the premiere production of Alexander von Zemlinski’s Der Traumgorge (‘Görge le Rêveur’) directed by Laurent Delvert at the Opera National de Lorraine in Nancy. Her work was received exceptionally warmly by French audiences and international critics. Due to pandemic restrictions, the performance was held with an intimate cast of 31 musicians. In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, the conductor said:
It was a very demanding production because it was difficult music for the singers and the orchestra, and on top of that everything took place in pandemic conditions. We had to trim down the very large orchestra line-up. At first, I regretted accepting the proposal, I was afraid of failure. When I saw the score, my legs gave out on me. I had only two weeks to prepare a new version, written for a smaller ensemble.