Michal Gondko

In Michal Gondko’s “deft and fluid” (Early Music Today) lute playing “phrases come across like extempore thoughts chasing each other across the imagination, an effect many try for but very few succeed” (Lute News). One of the leading lutenists of his generation, he pursues his artistic goals as a soloist, musical director and ensemble musician, being particularly fascinated with European polyphonic art music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Passion for it prompted him in 2000 to found the early music ensemble La Morra. A sought-after soloist, he has also shared the stage with such musicians as Dame Emma Kirkby and Jordi Savall. More recent collaborations include a duo partnership with the eminent lutenist Nigel North. His musical path began in his hometown Warsaw (Poland), where he studied classical guitar. He subsequently graduated from the acclaimed Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he studied lute with Hopkinson Smith. Concert tours have since taken him to most European countries, as well as to the USA, the countries of the Middle East, China and Japan.

Corina Marti

Swiss harpsichord and recorder player Corina Marti is recognised internationally for her “strikingly superior and expressive” interpretations (Toccata), and “infallible” performances (Diapason). She leads a full life as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher, travelling regularly across Europe, both Americas, the Middle and Far East. Her extensive discography of repertoire ranges from the fourteenth-century istanpitte and intabulations to and beyond the chamber music and solo concertos of the High Baroque, reflecting the breadth of her musical interests and technical skills. She has appeared with Hespèrion XXI, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana and the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, and is artistic co-director and founding member of La Morra. Her research into aspects of the repertoire and the reconstruction of late medieval and early Renaissance keyboard instruments and recorders have contributed substantially to the present-day revival of these instruments. She teaches the next generation of early music performers at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel (where she studied herself) and in masterclasses worldwide.