Harpsichord and traverso flute

Biography
PAULINA TKACZYK-CICHOŃ - harpsichord and traverso flute

Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance. She has graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków (Professor Bogumiła Gizbert-Studnicka’s harpsichord class) and from Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg (Professor Robert Hill’s harpsichord and fortepiano class), where she received honors degrees. She has also graduated from postgraduate studies at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich (Professor Christine Schornsheim’s harpsichord masterclass), where she received a concert diploma. She has also studied baroque traverso flute under Professor Karl Kaiser and Professor Michael Schmidt-Casdorff. She has perfected her skills at numerous harpsichord and flute masterclasses run by following professors: H. Dreyfus, K. Gilbert, C. Tilney, Bob van Asperen, R. Kohnen, J. Christensen, I. Wjuniski, W. Kłosiewicz,  B. Kuijken, J. Ogg, R. Brown.

In 2003 she received a distinction at the Harpsichord Competition of German Colleges in Saarbrücken. She won several awards in recognition of her artistic achievements: Education Award of the City of Kraków, three times The Creativity Grant of the City of Kraków, “Sapere Auso” of Lesser Poland’s Grant Foundation in 2005, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage “Young Poland” Grant in 2007 and the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Grant in 2008.

In 2002 she established the Cantica Sacra ensemble, next the Musica Graziosa ensemble and in 2008 the Finesis Trio. She also collaborates with several other ensembles, both Polish and foreign. She is a member of the Baroque Collegium Musicum and the Polish Bach Society.

She runs courses and lectures on the performance of Early music. Contemporary music, composition and improvisation also fall within the scope of her repertoire interest. She performs concerts as a harpsichordist, pianist and flutist in Poland and abroad. She has participated in many music festivals and concerts held in Poland, France, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland, including such events as the 29th Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, “A Week of the Talented” in Tarnów, Pipe Organ Recital in Tyniec, “Music in the Old Convent” in Łódź-Łagiewniki, the Tempus Paschale Festival in Lublin, the Bach Festival in Gliwice, the 3rd Quiet Music Festival in Toruń, the 32nd International Music in Old Kraków Festival, the 19th Festival of Early Music in the Royal Castle in Warszawa, the 11th International Organ Music Festival in Zakopane, the 16th and 17th International Organ and Chamber Music Festival in Wolsztyn, “Summer Concerts in Podgórze” in Kraków, the 8th International Chamber Music Festival “Music on the Heights”, the 13th International Festival of Chamber and Organ Music in Wasilków, Mikołów Music Days, the 5th International “Polart” Festival, the G.G. Gorczycki Festival, the 23rd International Festival of Chamber and Organ Music in Jędrzejów, concerts in the “Wieczory Wawelskie” series, and, repeatedly, the Young Artists in Kraków Festival, the Bach Days Festival and the Festival de Musique Baroque d’Auvergne (France).

Her phonographic output includes five CDs: ● her debut solo record Ch. S. Binder: Sei Suonate per il Cembalo op. 1 (DUX Recording Producers, 2014), ● Amor Sacro Amor Profano (Ëvoe Records, 2015) recorded with the European Chamber Baroque Orchestra “Il Giardino d'Amore”, ● Sun Captured in the Sounds of Spain and Italy (MP-Studio, 2017) recorded by the Finesis Trio, ● Ch. S. Binder’s Sonatas and Divertimento for harpsichord and traverso flute (Agencja Artystyczna GAP, 2020). During the recording of that particular CD, Paulina Tkaczyk played  a double role, performing both on the harpsichord and on the traverso flute. She was supported by Bogumiła Gizbert-Studnicka (harpsichord) and Karolina Jesionek (traverso flute). Finally ● her newest release features  Funeral Sentences Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary and Come, Ye Sons of Art Away (Piotr Sawistowski – sound production, 2020) from “Baroque Collegium Musicum”.

She is a passionate populariser of Christlieb Siegmund Binder’s work which can be seen in  her recent publications: her first book Stylistic Diversity in Christlieb Siegmund Binder’s Works as Exemplified by the Collection of Harpsichord Sonatas Op. 1: Between the Baroque and Classical Periods (Musica Iagellonica, 2017), a series of online lectures on Ch. S. Binder, created in 2020 as part of the “Culture on the web” programme of the Polish National Culture Centre, as well as her articles commemorating Ch. S. Binder on his 300th birthday, published by the “Meakultura” magazine in 2023. 

CV download: English version, Polish version