Marcin Bronikowski & AXOUM DUO (Elwira Ślązak and Gabriel Collet) Project
A new project bringing together an opera voice with 2 marimbas was
created in 2008, paving the way to a productive collaboration between the marimba players Elwira Ślązak and Gabriel Collet (known as Axoum Duo) and the opera singer, baritone Marcin Bronikowski.
Following the first joined concert, during the X Franz Schubert Music Festival at the Royal Castle in Warsaw in December 2008, which was considered a great success, Marcin Bronikowski and Axoum Duo decided to continue working together, expanding their repertoire to include Polish, French, Spanish composers, as well as their own compositions, arranged and composed by Gabriel Collet. Gabriel also made arrangements of few Franz Schubert songs for baritone and 2 marimbas.
The goal of the project is the development of new artistic arrangement of the natural male voice – the Baritone and the deep original sound of Marimba, an exotic instrument which still remains not fully appreciated within the musical society; an instrument, whose sound is relatively close to the sound of baritone.
This project has already obtained large recognition and interest. As a result, artists performed many concerts in Poland (Cracow, “Two Theatre” Festival-Sopot, Radziejowice Palace, XI Franz Schubert Music Festival), Malmö & Lund (Sweden), Warsaw Wilanów Castle and many others.
In 2018 Gabriel Collet wrote a 12 songs cycle, based on Sonets by great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz and dedicated it exclusively to Marcin Bronikowski.
PERFORMED CONCERTS:
2019, October 19,
Mickiewicz Songs Cycle (G. Collet)
Wilanów Palace, Warszawa (PL)
2018, November 17,
First ever performance of Mickiewicz Song Cycle (G. Collet)
Radziejowice Palace (PL)
2015, October 21,
AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI in concert
Rada Polek, Warszawa (PL)
2012, April 21
II Marimba Academy
Final Gala Concert – AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI
Grand Concert Hall of the Palace, Radziejowice (PL)
2011, December 18
AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI in concert
Kulturskolan, Lund (SE)
2011, December 17
AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI in concert
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, Malmö (SE)
2010, October
AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI in concert
Mariott Hotel Ball Room, Warszawa (PL)
2008, December
AXOUM DUO & MARCIN BRONIKOWSKI in first ever concert
Royal Castle, Warszawa (PL)