I was born in Poland in 1985. Four years later my parents moved to Portugal along with my brother and me. First to Espinho, a town for which I still have feelings of belonging, and later to the beautiful city of Porto, which quickly became home. Portugal welcomed us so well that, having left in 2013 to seek personal and professional development around Europe, I decided to return and settle in Porto, in 2018.
I have a mix of polish, portuguese and british educations and was luckily provided with a childhood filled with diverse experiences and varied cultural and artistic influences. A son to musicians, at the age of eight I decided that the Piano would be my companion, filling my time, imagination, ambitions and tastes for over fifteen years. At the same time, my Mother’s orchestra, now known as the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, kept picking at my curiosity, making me seek the world of conducting and leadership.
I am considered a versatile conductor and musician. In this space that I wish to be transparent and personal, I will try to share my reasons for this. I believe that the experiences life has presented me with, as well as the ones that I have actively put myself through, lead to ways of thinking and a set of abilities that can explain this versatility.
I have a passion for the stage. As a space for communion, representation, energies and synergies that are created on it, by the different beings that inhabit it. Thanks to work with theatre, dance, cinema, educational and community projects as a pianist and conductor, I started to look upon it with a curiosity that doesn’t necessarily match the roles that are naturally expected of me. In certain moments I was challenged, or decided to challenge myself, to be on stage in an unusual manner. This awakened my taste for words, movement, dramaturgy, the curiosity to acquire some technical knowledge and, mainly, to develop empathy with creative endeavours other than music. Before this, because of the musical education I was receiving at home and a natural inclination to work with voices as a young pianist, I had already developed a special interest for the world of opera, which includes all these concepts.
I strongly feel that few things have such an impact on a mind or a heart than a story that is well written, a strongly built dramaturgy or a deep narrative. This is also my approach to the interpretation of orchestral and choral-symphonic repertoire, whether mainstream or contemporary, as I firmly believe that interpretation should never be the same twice, whether because of the different people involved, the venue, or even the audience.
It wasn’t always the case, but I became eclectic as far as tastes and interests are concerned, nurturing curiosity and challenge as traits of my personality. I am moved to perform Baroque as much as music of our times, having a special feeling for the Classical and Romantic Period, as well as all the modernist waves of the XX century. A keen listener of many musical styles, I go from the beginning of Jazz to its contemporary experimentalism, from the immensity of genres of Rock and Roll to Electronic Music, from the poetry of portugues and polish interventionist singers to the mesmerizing sounds of traditional and folk music from around the world. I speak of genres and borders, but I am an advocate of abolishing the categorization of the various musical styles that we are so used to. I strongly believe in constant musical learning through the exposure to varied soundscapes, both for the sake of interpretation as well as for education or even audience development.
I care about the evolution in the art of conducting, inquiring also into the role of the conductor and the meaning of artistic leadership in today’s society and musical world. Another of my passions is the research of artistic crossovers between different creative disciplines, leading me to spaces and roles that are not necessarily the expected ones. I believe that a solid and diverse education should also stimulate creativity, curiosity, the ability to adapt and improvise, whether artistically or in regards to communication and leadership skills. The hasty technological and ideological changes that we constantly face as a collective push us to continuously rethink old ways and models of educational, cultural and performance practices.
This presentation would not be possible without the unforgettable influence of many people I crossed and continue to cross on my journey. Professors, many kinds of artists, family, artistic directors, friends, colleagues or simply people that appeared by chance at a certain moment. These shared music with me, the stage, rehearsals, prose, poetry, photography, aesthetics, naturally influencing my own musings on all this. It would be an endless task to name each of them. Whether more or less present, they are all part of a person who looks at the past regularly and with fondness, seeking out new details in memories, which come to life and bring new meanings with each different visit. My gratitude is also due to all the talented photographers who caught me in so many moments. I am very happy and proud to share their work.
It would be remiss not to mention the importance of some institutions, both in nurturing and confirming a path which for now has no destination in sight, but which I tread in a deliberate manner: the Gulbenkian Foundation’s generous support in my first years of development with its Scholarship; the various schools, conservatoires and colleges I attended, the Porto Music Conservatoire, the National Orchestra Academy in Lisbon, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and the Franz Liszt Hochschule fur Musik, Weimar; the various orchestras and ensembles with whom I worked with and for, and that represent a constant growth and learning about music, life and sharing; the Porto College of Music and Performing Arts which, after being home to a student, became home to a teacher, 10 years later; the Movimento Patrimonial pela Música Portuguesa, an institution that has promoted portuguese classical music for over a decade, and that helped me find an identity.
After this personal introduction, I invite you to get to know my professional and academic background in detail, by taking a look at my official biography, as well as the rest of this website.