Download Opium String Quartet (OSQ) was formed in 2004

Opium String Quartet (OSQ) was formed in 2004. Three months later the Quartet made a
critically acclaimed debut at the Jerzy Waldorf Festival in Radziejowice. The OSQ is now
firmly established on the Polish chamber music scene and regularly performs in the most
prestigious venues in Poland and music festivals such as the Composer Portaits, Warsaw
Musical Gatherings, Chopiniana Festival, Fabryka Trzciny, … and Lutoslawski, Chain IX –
Lutoslawski Festival, Warsaw Jewish Festival „Singer's Warsaw”, Festival of Stars „FortePiano” in Torun.
The OSQ performs a wide-ranging repertoire and works with many of Poland's eminent
contemporary composers. The Quartet has premiered compositions by D. Przybylski, B.
Kowalski-Banasewicz, S. Czarnecki, Wojciech Kilar, A. Krzanowski,
Maciej Małecki, Piotr
Moss, S. Radwan. The group's first commercial CD entitled Back to Melody with works by
Kilar, Malecki and Czarnecki, was nominated for the coveted „Fryderyk” Award (Polish
Phonographic Academy Awards).
The Quartet's support of music by their compatriots is not restricted to concert performances,
CD or radio recordings. The OSQ continually works together with composers, comissions
new works and searches for exciting arrangements of already existing repertoire. This
approach has lead to performances of the Polish Suite arranged for String Quartet (2007), The
Dream of Fryderyk (2010) and 3rd String Quartet – all by Maciej Malecki, and Orawa by
Wojciech Kilar arranged for String Quartet by Krzysztof Urbanski.
The group's fascintation with art, literature and history motivates them to find new ways of
expression, combining music with poetry. Their highly innovative and original projects (put
together by the Quartet's violist Magdalena Malecka) uniting music with the spoken word
have been highly praised by audiences and critics alike. So far the OSQ has appeared
alongside some of Poland's most famous actors and actresses such as Teresa BudziszKrzyzanowska, Jan Nowicki, Anna Seniuk and Jerzy Zelnik. Several out of the Quartets many
projects enjoyed considerable success: Tango Therapy – an audiovisual performance based on
Tangos by Astor Piazzola, The Cross, a blossoming Tree – a concert encompassing sacred
texts and music from the Middle Ages to present times and Salvaged Sounds – a programme
commemorating composers imprisonned in the Teresin Concentration Camp during the 2nd
World War.
The OSQ has performed in the Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, Polish Radio
Lutoslawski Concert Hall, Agnieszka Osiecka Studio at the Polish Radio, Warsaw Royal
Castle, and Cracow Opera House, as well as in the Gdansk Shipyard and at the Fryderyk
Award Ceremony Gala. The Quartet records for CD Accord and Acte Prealable labels. The
Quartet's members are Agnieszka Marucha – 1st violin (since 2011), Anna Szalińska – 2nd
violin, Magdalena Małecka – viola, Olga Łosakiewicz-Marcyniak – cello. All members of the
quartet are graduates of the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw.
www.opium.art.pl