Artistic Director: Zygmunt Magiera

Sopranos: Marta Zagata-Bugajska, Anna Magiera
Altos: Joanna Święszek, Małgorzata Langer-Król
Tenors: Zygmunt Magiera, Mateusz Prendota
Basses: Bartłomiej Pollak, Marcin Wróbel

OCTAVA ensemble is a vocal octet established in 2004 and considered by music critics to be one of the most interesting vocal groups of the young generation. They quickly established their leading position among other Polish chamber groups by winning many contests and taking part in various festivals. They received the most prestigious award in Polish choral art, Grand Prix at the 39th National Choir Competition "Legnica Cantat".

Thanks to the wide interests of the members of OCTAVA, the group can perform every type of music, from Renaissance works to avant-garde projects. They worked with Krzysztof Penderecki, Aphex Twin (European Culture Congress, Wroclaw 2011), Portishead and Goldfrapp (an opening of new Trance scene on Misteria Paschalia Festival, 2011).

However, the specialisation of OCTAVA ensemble is the XVI and XVII-century music. The group follows historical trends by recording albums of works from the turn of the Renaissance and the Baroque (Pekiel Missa Pulcherrima – "Fryderyk" 2010 nomination, Hassler Missa Octava – positive reviews in the British "Gramophone" magazine). Additionally, they have set up the extraordinary Ad Radices Musicae project – for the first time in Poland, OCTAVA ensemble has brought back a regular interpretation of polyphonic compositions which are performed in their natural context, i.e. during a pre-Vatican liturgy.

updated: 2018 (ac)