The Equilibrium String Quartet consists of four musicians who have been performing with the most important historical performance groups in Poland and abroad for many years. The ensemble was founded in 2017 to discover lesser-known chamber music of the 18th and 19th centuries. In its activities, the Equilibrium String Quartet focuses on bringing back to life – in cooperation with musicologists and taking into account old performance practices – forgotten works of this period, especially the works of Polish composers. In the common consciousness, Polish chamber music of the classical and romantic eras is very little known and almost absent from the concert and phonographic repertoire. Equilibrium String Quartet wants to gradually fill this gap. The band has already recorded four albums, including among others: “Józef Elsner – Three String Quartets op. 8 (version 1799)”, with an unknown version of Elsner’s works, and „Fantasias” with works by Lessel, Kurpiński and Noskowski. Album released in 2021 r with music of another Polish composer Władysław Żeleński was nominated to Fryderyk – moist important Polish Music Award.
In the 2024/25 artistic season, highlights for the Equilibrium String Quartet will include collaboration with Tobias Koch, the recording of their fourth album, and performances at the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Beethoven Easter Festival.
Sulamita Ślubowska
1st violin
Violinist, soloists, chamber player, but most importantly – musician.
Graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the class of Szymon Krzeszowiec, in which she has been working as an assistant professor since 2020. She has trained her skills under the guidance of outstanding artists, such as Pierre Amoyal, Gidon Kremer, Pinchas Zukerman, Bomsori Kim, Bartłomiej Nizioł and Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska.
Moreover, she has been appreciated many times at national and international competitions, winning first place at International „Young Paganini” Violin Competition in Legnica, first place at National Stanisław Serwaczynski Competition of Young Violinists in Lublin, being finalist of the Karol Szymanowski Music Competition in Katowice and participant of the 16. International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition.
As a soloist she has performed with several significant orchestras such as Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra NOSPR in Katowice, AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, Staatstheater Symphony Orchestra in Cottbus, Silesian Opera Orchestra and The Silesian, Lower Silesian, Subcarpathian, Sudeten, Poznań and Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic as well as Theresia Orchestra on period instruments.
Constantly looking for opportunities to grow as an artist, she successfully cuts across the worlds of contemporary music and historical performance, the fruit of which is being the first violinist of the Equilibrium String Quartet, member of the Metropolis Piano Quartet and Oh Orkiestra.
In 2022 she released her solo debut CD „SULAMITA” released by DUX Recording Producers, which includes music of Part, Prokofiev and Bacewicz.
Małgorzata Malke
2nd violin
A soloist and cameralist She has regularly collaborated with the most prominent ensembles on the Polish and European early music circuit, including Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna. Currently, she enjoys a permanent relationship with Prague’s Collegium Marianum, Arte dei Suonatori, and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice, tutored by Adam Musialski on violin and by Martyna Pastuszka on baroque violin. She also studied – with Erasmus scholarships – at the music universities in Graz (violin) and Vienna (historical performing practice) tutored by Dominika Falger. For ten years, she was a member of the Extempore trio, who recorded the „Telemann: Solos&Trios” album released in 2018. Since 2017, she has been a member of the Equilibrium string quartet playing period instruments, with whom she made the first period-instruments recording of string quartets from Józef Elsner’s op. 8. Furthermore, she works with the cellist Bartosz Kokosza and the harpsichordist Marcin Świątkiewicz, also exploring classical repertoire with the use of the pianoforte. She performs early music using a 1719 violin made by the French luthier Claude Pierray. She received a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Her first solo album is set for release in 2022, containing G. Ph. Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin. Małgorzata Malke also works with the youngest generation of violinists as a Suzuki Method teacher.
Anna Nowak-Pokrzywińska
viola
A violinist by education, a violist by vocation. Anna Nowak-Pokrzywińska explored the secrets of period performance tutored by Zbigniew Pilch at the Academy of Music in Wrocław and by Rachel Podger at the Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, as well as during numerous masterclasses, including ones taught by Amandine Beyer, Petra Mullejans and Enrico Onofri.
It was as early as during her university studies that she began collaboration with the Arte dei Suonatori, the Harmonologia ensemble, and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. She currently leads a rich concerting life, performing, both as a violinist and violist – with such ensembles as {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, L’Arpeggiata, Capella Cracoviensis, Collegium 1704, Holland Baroque, Les Ambassadeurs, Oriestra Kore, Capella Regia Polona, and the Dresdner Festspielorchester. She has performed in concert halls throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Her recordings have been published by such labels as: BIS, Chanel Classics, Alpha, Dacapo, and DUX. Since 2021, she has been teaching historical viola at the Fryderyk Chopin University in Warsaw.
Tomasz Pokrzywiński
cello
Tomasz Pokrzywiński – a most versatile musician, escaping categorisations and constantly broadening the scope of his musical interests and experiences. He is primarily a cellist, playing multiple forms of the instrument (from baroque to contemporary with additions of electronics), but also a sound engineer, arranger, composer, improviser and promoter of culture.
At the current stage of his artistic path, he is a permanent collaborator of the Bastarda Trio, the Equilibrium String Quartet, the Holland Baroque, and the Capella Cracoviensis. He was also a long-term collaborator of the Arte dei Suonatori and the {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna in Poland, and the Academy of Ancient Music and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Britain.
In the European period performance circles, he is a recognised cameralist and a basso continuo expert having performed with leading ensembles and soloists of the early music current in major concert halls of Europe, America, Asia, and Africa.
As a promoter of culture and a manager, he has created and participated in such initiatives as: the Strefa Ciszy w Łazienkach Królewskich festival, the 3×3 festival, as well as the Transkrypcje, Dżemy klasyczne and Smykofonia concert cycles.
Since 2016, he has been working at the The Chopin University of Music, where he is currently teaching the historical cello class.
