The ensemble was founded in 2017 by four musicians who had spent years performing with the most significant ensembles in historically informed performance, both in Poland and abroad. They founded the Quartet to explore 18th and 19th-century chamber music together. The Quartet focuses on bringing back to life forgotten pieces of that time, especially works of Polish composers. Cooperating with musicologists, the musicians pay attention to reflecting performance practices of the period. A very small portion of Polish chamber music of the classical and the romantic period is known to the general public. It is also virtually absent from concerts and recordings. It is a gap Equilibrium String Quartet wishes to fill successively. In 2018 r. Equilirbium released its first CD – Józef Elsner’s String Quartets op. 8 (CD Accord) – which is the world premiere recording on period instruments of this music.
Sulamita Ślubowska violin
She is a graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the class of prof. Szymon Krzeszowiec, in which she has been working as an assistant professor since 2020. Graduate of the NOSPR Academy.
She has trained her skills under the guidance of outstanding artists, such as Pierre Amoyal, Gidon Kremer, Pinchas Zukerman, Roland Baldini, 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 Serwaczyński Competition of Young Violinists in Lublin, third place in the Michał Spisak National Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza and being finalist of the Karol Szymanowski Music Competition in Katowice.
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 Philharmonic, Lower Silesian Philharmonic. Participated in numerous music festivals, ex. Ensemble Music Festival in Książ, Polish Music Festival in Gÿor (Hungary), Beyreuth Baroque, Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw.
First violinist of Equilibrium String Quartet, member of Metropolis Piano Quartet, {oh!} orkiestra historyczna and Polish String Chamber Orchestra. Scholar of Polish Children’s Fund, Teresa Sahakian Foundation, ORLEN - DAR SERCA Foundation and The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Małgorzata Malke II violin
A soloist and a chamber player. She enjoyed regullar collaborations with the most significant early music ensembles in Poland and in Europe, including Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Collegium Marianum, Arte dei Suonatori. Currently, she performs regularly with Wrocławska Orkiestra Barokowa and {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna. She graduated in violin and baroque violin from the Academy of Music in Katowice. She has also studied – with the Erasmus scholarship – at the universities of music in Graz (the violin) and in Vienna (historical performance practice).
Before she developed an interest in historically informed performance of early music, she regularly collaborated with Śląska Orkiestra Kameralna, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej and Orkiestra Miasta Tychy AUKSO. For ten years, with Anna Firlus (charpsicord) and Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), she has been part of the Extempore trio. She also works as a Suzuki method teacher.
Anna Nowak-Pokrzywińska viola
A violinist by education, a violist by calling. She was exploring the secrets of historical performance with Zbigniew Pilch at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, as well as with Rachel Podger at the Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. She also took part in multiple courses given by such teachers as Amandine Beyer, Petra Mullejans and Enrico Onofri.
While still a student, she collaborated with Arte dei Suonatori, the Harmonologia ensemble and Wrocławska Orkiestra Barokowa. Currently, she gives multiple concerts, both as a violinist and as a violist, with such ensembles as {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, L’Arpeggiata, Capella Cracoviensis, Collegium 1704, Holland Baroque, Les Ambassadeurs, Orkiestra Kore, Capella Regia Polona or Dresdner Festspielorchester. She has performed in concert halls throughout Europe, as well as in Asia and North America. She appears in recordings released by: BIS, Chanel Classics, Alpha, Dacapo and DUX.
Tomasz Pokrzywiński cello
Tomasz Pokrzywiński graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Music (sound engineering) and the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama (baroque cello). He regularly works with the Arte dei Suonatori, Holland Baroque and {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna ensembles. As a guest concertmaster, he collaborates with the Academy of Ancient Music and La Nuova Musica. As a chamber player, he joins such collaborators as Rachel Podger, Marcin Świątkiewicz and Marcin Masecki. He has recorded for companies such as Harmonia Mundi, Channel Classics, BBC, Alpha and BIS. In addition to historically informed performance, he works in arrangement and, recently, improvisation.
He likes to oppose stereotypes and explore the borderlands of classical music, which is why he founds or takes part in such initiatives as Festiwal 3x3, the Transkrypcje and Dżemy Klasyczne cycles, Festiwal Strefa Ciszy and Smykofonia. Since 2016, he has been teaching baroque cello at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.
