Cappella Warmiensis Restituta & Mikołaj Zgółka
Biography Cappella Warmiensis Restituta & Mikołaj Zgółka
Mikołaj Zgółka
He studied at universities in Poland, Switzerland and Germany. As a soloist and chamber musician, he won prizes in national and international competitions. Historical performance is in the centre of his interests, with particular emphasis on violin music at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, chamber music of the second half of the18th century and early Romanticism.
Mikołaj Zgółka has given concerts in almost all European countries. He has collaborated — as a concertmaster or chamber musician — with many early music ensembles in Poland and abroad, such as Collegium Musicum Stuttgart, Berlin Baroque, Allegria Musicale (Switzerland), Collegium Marianum (Prague), Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, Consortium Sedinum and Orchestra of the Academy of Early Music Foundation in Szczecin.
He is the 1st violinist and co-founder of the Musicarius quartet, as well as the concertmaster and initiator of the Polish-German ensemble Neue Pohlnische Capelle, whose activity focuses on reviving the culture and music of the Saxon court in Dresden and Warsaw. This activity has resulted in bringing many interesting and forgotten works back to musical life, as well as scientific and popularising publications.
Besides, he also cooperates with other remarkable orchestras like Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Dresdner Festspielorchester, Anima Eterna, Gabrieli Consort and Players.
Mikołaj Zgółka has taken part in dozens of recordings published, among others by Polskie Radio, DUX, CD Accord, RecArt, and Deutsche Grammophon; CD with the works of Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, which he recorded together with the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble conducted by Andrzej Kosendiak, was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Wrocław 2013.
Mikołaj Zgółka is a doctor of arts and runs the Baroque violin class at the Academy of Music in Poznań. He also teaches theoretical subjects, including rhetoric, that has been absent in university education so far. He has taught master classes in Lidzbark Warmiński, Jarosław and Magdeburg.
As president of the Society of Lovers of Culture and Art, he is the initiator of many artistic undertakings. Several times, he has managed music festivals in Poland. For his activity he was honoured by the Poznań music circles with the Flis Award (2012) and the Medal of the Young Positivist (2016), awarded by the Hipolit Cegielski Society. In 2013, together with the Musicarius quartet, he received a commemorative award of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. His solo CD with world premiere recording of Carl Höckh`s violin sonatas was awarded with Supersonic Music Award in 2019 and nominated to International Classical Music Awards in 2020.
Mikołaj Zgółka plays an Aegidius Kloz violin from 1793 and a copy of Giovanni Paolo Maggini’s violin from 1629, made by Krzysztof Krupa.
