18.07 – Saturday – 12:05 pm
/ the tower of the Main Town Hall
Student concert, vol. 2
Julia Cykał,
Beata Galikowska,
Wojciech Kowal,
Witold Maciak,
Karolina Oma Rønnes,
Alicja Pałka,
Zuzanna Podolak,
Wojciech Podolski,
Artur Samul
Program:
Duet Alicja Pałka, Witold Maciak:
Edward Grieg (1843-1907)
Walc a-moll op. 12 nr 2
Suita nr 1 op. 46 – W grocie króla gór
Beata Galikowska:
Giedrius Kuprevičius (*1944)
Preludium in memoriam M. K. Čiurlionis
Albert Gerken (*1938)
Prelude for carillon
Wojciech Podolski:
Alessandro Marcello (1673-1747)
Adagio z Koncertu d-moll S D935 na obój (opr. I. Wong)
Wojciech Kowal:
Geert D’hollander (*1965)
A Chopinesque Prelude
Julia Cykał:
Geert D’hollander (*1965)
Spring Morning
Karolina Oma Rønnes:
Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946)
Rozumiem mowę fal
Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909)
Pamiętam ciche, jasne, złote dnie (opr. własne)
Zuzanna Podolak, Artur Samul:
Niebo pełne gwiazd (wersja z wariacjami)
Zuzanna Podolak:
Mgła – improwizacja
Julia Cykał
is a pupil at the State Music School in Gdańsk, where she is learning to play the saxophone. She enjoys playing in orchestras – also on the trumpet and the traverse flute. In September 2025, she took part in the Museum of Gdańsk’s educational project ‘Discover the Carillon’.
Beata Galikowska
is a student of Church Music at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk. She lives in Czersk (Pomerania). She began to discover her passion for music after the age of 30: she graduated from the School for Cantors (2019–2021), and subsequently from the Diocesan Organists’ Course (2021–2025). She learnt to play the carillon on a course organised by the Academy of Music and the Gdańsk Museum in 2025.
Wojciech Kowal
has been playing the accordion since the age of 6. Enthusiast of carillons, member of the Pulsanti accordion orchestra, graduate of the Master’s degree in accordion class and Bachelor’s degree in church music specialty at the S. Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk. He also studied on scholarships at Hochschule für Künste in Bremen (Germany), Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in Parma (Italy) and did his graduate training at Conservatorio Superior de Mùsica de Aragón in Zaragoza (Spain). He gives concerts in Poland and abroad, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Lithuania. Wojciech is currently a student at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen (Belgium).
Witold Maciak
harpsichordist, microtonal composer and performer. Witold studied harpsichord with Beata Popis at the ZPSM no. 1 in Warsaw, Poland and currently finishes his studies at the Royal Carillon School „Jef Denyn” in Mechelen, Belgium. Witold has attended various carillon courses and lessons, both in Poland and abroad, with such players as – Eddy Mariën, Monika Kaźmierczak, Rien Donkersloot, Boudewijn Zwart. Additionally, Witold is active as a scholar and writer. In 2025, together with Johnny Reinhard, they wrote a book titled „Circular Reasoning – Secrets of Baroque Tuning”, published in Great Brtitan by Vision Edition. Witold’s musical interests lie between contemporary and early music, including musics of different cultures. Maciak is an active student and practitioner of the Indonesian art of Karawitan and is co-working with such artists/ensembles as: Warsaw Gamelan Group and Jody Diamond.
Karolina Oma Rønnes
bassoonist, contrabassoonist, and educator. She graduated from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where she studied at the Faculty of Instrumental Performance (specialization: Bassoon) and the Faculty of Music Theory (specialization: Music Journalism), as well as from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart where she studied Bassoon, Contrabassoon, and Music Education.
She has participated in numerous masterclasses and music festivals throughout Europe. She studied and performed with some of the world’s most distinguished bassoonists, including Roger Birnstingl, Robert Rønnes, Dag Jensen, Sergio Azzolini, Ole Kristian Dahl, Simon van Holen, Andrea Cellacchi, and Theo Plath.
She performs as both a soloist and chamber musician and has appeared at the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) conferences in the United States. As an orchestral musician, she has been invited to collaborate with numerous orchestras in Poland, including the Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra (NFM), Baltic Opera, Polish Baltic Philharmonic, Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera na Zamku in Szczecin, and the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, as well as with ensembles in Germany, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands.
For several years, she has also devoted herself to teaching, working as a bassoon instructor at the Feliks Nowowiejski Primary and Secondary Music School in Gdańsk. She has co-organized numerous festivals and masterclasses for children and young musicians. In addition, she is active in music journalism and music editing, collaborating with publishers as among the others Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (PWM edition). Her interests also include music arrangement, composition, and playing the carillon.
Alicja Pałka
born in 1994 in Katowice, Poland. Pianist and organist. Graduate of the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Instrumental Pedagogy on Piano specialty at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk in the class of Prof. Andrzej Artykiewicz and Dr. Maciej Ganski.
She also holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Church Music specialty at the same academy in the carillon class of Dr. Monika Kazmierczak, organ class of Prof. Boguslaw Grabowski and Dr. Ewa Rytel. Alicja teaches piano and accompaniment at the Sopot School of Music.
Zuzanna Podolak
a graduate of secondary music school in violin specialty and the Archdiocesan Institute of Sacred Music in Przemyśl.
She is currently studying psychology and church music.
She is a laureate of an M. K. Čiurlionis’s arrangement competition, which was held at the Academy of Music in Gdansk in November 2024. The arrangement selected in the competition, as well as other arrangements by her, are played on daily basis by the automatic carillon of the Main Town Hall in Gdansk.
Wojciech Podolski
economist, coach, church musician. He has taken part in carillon courses organised by the Gdańsk Academy of Music and the Gdańsk Museum. Music is his passion.
Artur Samul
a graduate of Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk in composition, solo singing and harpsichord. During his harpsichord studies he also learned to play carillon, and during workshops and by his own he learned to compose and arrange pieces for the carillon.
He is the composer of solo pieces and duets for carillon, as well as compositions and arrangements played on the hour by the carillon at Gdańsk’s Main Town Hall. His arrangement of Feliks Nowowiejski’s ‘Rota’ was selected in a competition and is played by the carillon at Gdańsk’s Main Town Hall every day at 12:00.