Several arias from “Italian Arias” recital have won 3rd prize during the 8th International Competition for Musicians “Performers of the XXI century” in Moscov (Russia).

Aleksander Kaczuk-Jagielnik

Aleksander Kaczuk-Jagielnik is a baritone from an artistic family, the son of photographer Piotr Jagielnik and painter Agata Kaczuk-Jagielnik. In the 2023/2024 artistic season, he is a young artist at the National Opera Studio in London. He completed his bachelor’s studies at the Vocal Department of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław under the guidance of Prof. Bogdan Makal. Currently, he continues his studies at the master’s level with a focus on vocal and acting performance at the same institution. In the 2022/2023 season, he also participated in the Young Talent Development Program at the Polish National Opera. He has won numerous awards, including third place at the Danubia International Vocal Competition 2022 in Budapest and third place at the VII International Competition of Musicians-Performers “Performers of the 21st Century” in Moscow in March 2021. He actively participates in and organizes artistic projects, collaborating with young artists such as Paweł Popko, Michał Skowronek, and Bartłomiej Malarz. Despite his young age, he has already had many significant performances, concerts, and participation in opera projects in Poland and abroad. He has performed at venues such as the Polish National Philharmonic, the Polish National Opera, the Gorzów Philharmonic, the Sudecka Philharmonic, as well as abroad at the Welsh National Opera and Wigmore Hall. Additionally, he is the founder and president of the AKJ Foundation.

Michał Skowronek

Michał Skowronek is a young Polish pianist and aspiring vocal coach. He is frequently engaged in chamber music and vocal recitals at venues including the Polish National Opera in Warsaw and Wrocław Opera. In 2021, he became a staff pianist for the Vocal Department at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, accompanying lessons and concerts, and working as a repetiteur for opera projects. There, he also participated in vocal workshops with Eytan Pessen, Mariusz Kwiecień, and Aleksandra Kurzak. He received his training under Paweł Zawadzki at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. Michał Skowronek furthered his collaborative piano training at the Opera Academy of the Polish National Opera: Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa in Warsaw where he worked with such artists as Helmut Deutsch, Michał Biel, Katelan Trần Terrell, Mariusz Kwiecień, Hedwig Fassbender, and Dearbhla Collins, among others. He also participated in the Morningside Music Bridge summer program in Boston, MA, with such faculty as Krzysztof Jabłoński, Golda Vainberg-Tatz and HaeSun Paik. Most recently, Michał Skowronek is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he attends for Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano in the studio of Dr. Brian Zeger.

Justyna Skoczek

Pianist, vocal coach, and songwriter. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Wrocław in the piano class of Prof. Włodzimierz Obidowicz (2003). From 2003 to 2012, she worked as a vocal coach and solo pianist at the Wrocław Opera. At the Polish Theatre in Wrocław, she completed the entire “Dziady” by Adam Mickiewicz directed by Michał Zadara (2016). She served as the musical director for Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” and composed music for and performed as a pianist in “The Books of Jacob” (2022) directed by Michał Zadara at the National Theatre in Warsaw (2019). She collaborates with double bassist Paweł Jabłczyński, as well as with the Wrocław-based ensemble Małe Instrumenty, playing contemporary and experimental music and implementing musical projects involving people with disabilities. Since 2001, she has been a lecturer at the Vocal Department of the Academy of Music in Wrocław, where she defended her doctoral dissertation (2015) and obtained habilitation (2022). Since January 2021, she has been the musical director of the National Old Theatre in Krakow.