Michał Pepol - cellist, composer, arranger

Michał Pepol is a classically trained musician who does not fit into genres, an artist always hungry for new experiences, transgressions, and non-obvious contexts. He is the co-founder of the Royal String Quartet, the originator and co-organizer of the Kwartesencja Festival in Warsaw, the curator of the Klangor Festival in Warmia and the author of the Dotykafonie concert series at the Nowy Theater in Warsaw. In October 2024, Polish Radio will release "Cellotapes" - his second solo album.

In 2022, he debuted with the project "Kora infinity" (Agora Muzyka), which contains unknown and unreleased recordings of the legendary Polish rock star Kora Jackowska and received enthusiastic reviews: "Michał Pepol is not only a musician and composer on this album, but a sorcerer" (Mariusz Szczygieł); "I know Kora so well that I can honestly say that she would love Michał himself and would immediately include him in her universe" (Kamil Sipowicz). The album was recognized as one of the 10 best Polish albums of 2022 by Polityka weekly, TVN 24 and Onet. "This is a unique, multidimensional and innovative publication" (TVN 24); "An unpredictable and original sound portrait of Kora, created at a time when it seemed that no one had anything to add about her" (Gazeta Wyborcza); "Pepol managed to make Kora's voice, her singing and speech freely cross the borders of worlds and locate themselves in infinity" (Polityka). For the album, Michał was nominated for the Koryfeusz of Polish Music award in the "Personality of the Year 2022" category. In 2023, the album was released in a vinyl version with four premiere songs recorded with invited guests: Magdalena Cielecka, Ralph Kaminski and Baasch.

Pepol is the creator of such projects as "The Sound Regained" in cooperation with Paweł Bownik (Nowy Teatr, 2016), "The Silence of the Sirens" in a duet with Magdalena Cielecka (commissioned by the Museum Of Modern Art, 2017), and "Among Angels" (2017) realized in the Biała Forest . He is the author of music for Markus Öhrn's plays "Three Episodes from the Life of a Family" (2021) and "Fobia" (2023), and since 2015 he has been performing in Krzysztof Warlikowski's play "The French". He invited the great lady of Polish song, Sława Przybylska, to create the sound installation "We are standing by the walls of the ghetto" (ŻiH, 2022).

He is the co-creator of Ralph Kaminski's album "Kora", project awarded with the Fryderyk 2021 and played at over 50 concerts. With the Trimagine trio he won the 2nd prize and the Special Award of Czesław Niemen at the Polish Radio Folk Festival "Nowa Tradycja" in 2019, where Michał's extraordinary arrangements were appreciated. He collaborates with many artists: with Bartek Wąsik, he co-creates the duo DuoVoice, and also performs, among others, with Natalia Przybysz, Mela Koteluk, Kuba Krzewiński (DVD "Contre" for Bołt Records 2019), Olga Mysłowska and Patryk Zakrocki (CD "Leggerezza"). He performed at many festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn, Off, Męskie Granie, Nostalgia, Ephemera, Pomada, Enter, Słuchy, Etno Kraków, Tranströmer Days, Szalone Dni Muzyki and the Festival of Premieres.

He is a frequent guest on Polish Radio 2, and he also recorded his recitals for TVP Kultura, where he was the curator of the "Kultura Live" concert series. Since 2003, he has been teaching chamber music classes at the Karol Szymanowski Music College in Warsaw. In 2022, he received an artistic scholarship from the capital city of Warsaw. Warsaw.