Christian Danowicz was born in 1983 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of four, he moved with his family to France.  His father was his first violin teacher. He is a graduate of the Conservatory in Toulouse where he studied with Gilles Colliard. He completed his Master’s studies at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, under the tutelage of Julia and Krzysztof Jakowicz, in 2010. The same year, he completed a Bachelor’s Degree from the opera and symphonic conducting class of Antoni Wit. He now studies conducting under the direction of prof. Tomasz Bugaj, at Fryderyk Chopin University. He is also pursuing doctoral studies at the Wroclaw Academy of Music under violin professor Jaroslaw Pietrzak. Danowicz is a laureate of the Tadeusz Wronski International Solo Violin Concourse in Warsaw and received first prize in the chamber music competition of the Duxbury Music Festival, in 2010. Since 2010, he has held the position of concertmaster of the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra, in Wroclaw. He performs regularly as a soloist and conductor with the ensemble, and as a member of the Leopoldinum Soloists Trio, he has received a scholarship to study for one year at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sophia in Madrid, in the chamber class of G. Pichler.

Józef Koffler is considered by many to be the most important Polish composer of the first half of the 20th century after Szymanowski. However, strong controversies arise as the result of tensions between the different components of his musical aesthetic. From a developmental point of view, the evolution of Koffler’s dynamic and limitless style moved from interests in Polish Folk music and early European examples of serialism to the adaption of Schoenbergian 12-note serialism combined with neo-classical and expressionist styles. Koffler’s String Trio brought him international recognition due to its unveiling  of  wider perspectives than expected from just three instruments. The piece is filled with depth of texture and dynamic layering and interchange. Koffler published articles and held a number of respectable posts during his life in which he was a champion of contemporary Polish music. Little is known about his fate and that of his family, they are thought to have been killed by the Nazis in 1944.

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki was born in Czernica, near Rybnik. He studied composition at the Academy of Music in Katowice under Bolesław Szabelski. Górecki became known as one of Poland's most radical avant-garde composers, in 1958, after his piece Epitafium was performed at the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music. In 1965, Górecki became associated with the Academy of Music in Katowice, initially as a lecturer and later as an assistant professor instructing score-reading, orchestration and composition. He also served as rector of the Academy for four years beginning in 1975. Górecki has been honoured with the Music Award of the Katowice voivodship, by the Minister of Culture and Art, and by the Polish Composers' Union, as well as receiving awards from the Committee for Radio and Television Affairs, the First State Prize, and the Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Paweł Hendrich was born in 1979 in Wrocław. He graduated from the Department of Engineering and Economics at the Wrocław University of Economics. He also studied composition at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław and at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. In addition to being performed by the Leopoldinum Trio, Paweł Hendrich's compositions have been commissioned by a number of National Forum of Music ensembles including the Lutosławski Quartet and the LutosAir Quintet. An album of Paweł Hendrich’s Chamber Works was released on the DUX label in 2010 and in 2017 he released the album Metaforma.

Alixandra Porembski, English Language Annotator