Employees

prof. dr hab.

Alina Ratkowska

harpsichord

She is Professor at the UMFC at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2002 she obtained a diploma of the Scholi Cantorum Basilensis, Higher School of Early Music in Basel, class of Andrea Marcon. The studies also covered working under the supervision of Jesper B. Christensen and Jörg-Andreas Böticher, specialists in basso continuo. In 1999 she graduated with honours from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, class of Professor Leszek Kędracki. She also completed postgraduate studies at the Technical University of Gdańsk, Department of Management and Economics.

In 2009, on the basis of the presented doctoral thesis constituting an artistic piece entitled The characteristics of pieces by Johann Gottlieb Goldberg on the background of his contemporary compositions, she obtained a doctoral degree in the artistic discipline of instrumental studies. In May 2014 she was awarded with a post-doctoral degree by the Council of the Vocal and Instrumental Department, Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice.

In 2009 and 2013 she was honoured by the readers of the Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” with the award named The Storm of The Year. In 2008 she obtained the award of President of the city of Gdańsk For the Young Creators of Culture. She had the scholarships of the Minister of Culture and Art, Marshall of Pomeranian Voivodship, Foundation of Culture and many other foreign foundations. In 2003 she won the 3rd award at the International Early Music Competition Van Vlaanderen in Bruges (Belgium), together with the ensemble she conducted called Esperanto. She was a finalist of harpsichord competitions in Warsaw (1998) and Budapest (2000). As a pianist she won the 1^st award at the Chamber Music Competition in Gdańsk (1993) and the first distinction at the Chamber Music Competition in Wrocław (1994). She also won the 1^st award at the International Paola Bernardi Harpsichord Competition in Bologna (2005). She attended numerous master courses, taught by such artists as: Christiane Jaccottet, Peter Holman, Ketil Haugsand, Marka Kroll, Andreas Staier, Geoffrey Lancaster, or Nicholas Parle. She collaborates with the Goldberg Baroque Ensemble, specializing in performing the music which was preserved in the collections of the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Together with the ensemble she documents these collections as part of the series “Music Heritage of the City of Gdańsk” (DUX, Sarton).

As a conductor of Musica Maxima, a vocal and instrumental ensemble, she took part in premiere performances of compositions from the collections of the Archdiocese Archive in Poznań. She devotes a significant part of her activity to performing contemporary music written for harpsichord, playing numerous premieres. In 2010 she released her debut solo album with The Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach (Sarton), in 2011 the CD received two nominations for the phonographic award “Fryderyk”. In 2012 she released a premiere recording of three harpsichord concertos by Johann Jeremias du Grain, a Gdańsk composer and organist who died in 1756; the album was supplemented with a work entitled The Harpsichord Concertos by Johann Jeremias du Grain (?-1756). A historical context, structure and selected performance issues, which was published in 2013 by the Chopin University of Music.

Alina Ratkowska is an originator and director of the Goldberg Festival, which was initiated in Gdańsk in 2006. Under her supervision a scholarly session entitled Harpsichord music at the FCUM  is held cyclically.

Professor Alina Ratkowska, DMus Hab. is a member of the Chair of Organ and Harpsichord of the UMFC.