dr hab. Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska
“In four of Bach’s Two-Part Inventions Nigel Kennedy shared the spotlight with the orchestra’s lead cellist Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska: delicate, intimate, these were the night’s jewels”
THE TIMES. Royal Festival Hall, London, Geoff Brown
“Wenn man schon so eine begnadete Cellistin wie die Polin Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska in seinen Reihen hat, danntranskribiert man die “Two part inventions” einfach. Was gespieltwerden muss, wirdpassendgemacht. Das Ergebnis war halsbrecherische Virtuosität und emotionales, sehrgroßes Kino.”
Südwest Presse. Liederhalle Stuttgart, Udo Eberl
Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska graduated with honours in 2004 in the Academy of Music in Cracow (Poland), in cello class of Professor Zdzislaw Lapinski. In 2004 she was awarded the Zygmunt Zaleski scholarship to completed her studies in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris ‘Alfred Cortot’ in the cello class of Prof. Paul Julien. In 2005 she won the Diplôme Supérieur d’Enseignement – “A l’unanimite”. The same year she entered postgraduate studies – ‘Solistenclasse’ in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, in the cello class of Prof. Peter Buck, where she graduated in 2008.
Since 2007 she is an Assistant Professor in the Chamber Music Department in the Music Academy in Cracow. In 2012 Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska achieved a title of Doctor of Arts.
Beata cooperate with renowned artists of younger generation, creating chamber music groups concentrating on various music styles. With the Messages Quartet she received a Silver Medal and a Special Award for interpretation of Shostakovich’s music at the II International Chamber Music Competition in Plovdiv (Bulgaria, X. 2015).
Beata received a number of awards and honors: distinction in the XXVII Polish National Chamber Music Competition in Wroclaw (1999), first prize for The Best Performance of Krzysztof Penderecki Music for Cello Solo (Music Academy in Cracow, 2003); first prize in the trio-category in the VII International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Cracow (2003). In 2005 she received the “Bräuer Optik Spezialpreis für Kammermusik” during the Oberstdorfer Musiksommer – 13. Internationales Klassikfestival im Allgäu. In 2006, with Trio BLUette, she won third prize in the IV International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Gdansk.
In 2010, Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska was invited as a lead cellist and duo-partner to join Nigel Kennedy’s new orchestra – “The Orchestra of Life”, with which she toured Germany and the United Kingdom. She had an honor of playing in duo with Nigel Kennedy the Two Parts Inventions by J. S. Bach arranged for violin and cello. She performed in the most prestigious halls such as: Gewandhaus – Lipzig, Berlin Philharmony, as well as the philharmonic halls in Munich, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim and Nürnberg. As the lead cellist of the Orchestra of Life she performed also in the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and many more. In 2011 she was invited to record with Nigel Kennedy his masterpiece The Four Elements for SONY Classical and the new edition of Antonio Vivaldi’s The NEW Four Seasons which has been released in October 2015.
Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska took part in master classes, among others: with Krzysztof Penderecki, Stanislaw Firlej, Marco Ylönen, Arvid Engegård, Angelica Mai, Ralf Gothoni and Peter Buck. As a chamber music artist and a lead cellist she has taken part in several national and international festivals. She recorded for DUX, SONY Clasical, Solo Musica, Universal Music Polska.
She has held scholarships from Polish and foreign foundations, as well as the City of Wroclaw and Cracow and from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage granted to outstanding young artists.