About me
Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Kras
clarinetist, soloist, chamber musician, teacher.
Born in Białystok (Poland). In 2015 she graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Cracow, receiving her Master’s degree in the class of Prof. Andrzej Godek and Dr habil. Piotr Lato. In 2020 she obtained her PhD degree from her Alma Mater. In addition to that, she developed her skills during numerous masterclasses led by outstanding clarinetists, such as: Shirley Brill (Israel), Florent Heau (France), Guy Dangain (France), David Krakauer (USA), Kiryl Rybakov (Russia), Matthias Muller (Switzerland), Gabor Varga (Hungary).
Both as a soloist and chamber musician she became laureate of numerous first prizes at national and international music competitions in Italy, Sweden, Russia, Greece, Slovenia, Ukraine and Poland. Furthermore, she participated in a number of artistic projects, performing in Poland and abroad (Germany, Italy, Slovenia). Also, as a soloist she performer with INSO Orchestra – Lviv, Poznań Orchestra Nova as well as with the Chamber Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Kraków.
Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Kras is the recipient of scholarships founded by Open Philparmonic Agrafka Muzyczna, Polish Children’s Fund, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Sapere Auso Foundation, Minister of Science and Higher Education. She became laureate of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship Program „Young Poland” as well as received the Małopolskie Voivodeship prize „Ars Quaerendi” for outstanding contribution to the development and promotion of culture. The prize was given for the realization of her own original artistic undertaking “Fog and Flamenco Clarinet Project”, which was a cycle of concerts presenting unknown and rarely performed 20th century works for clarinet written by Spanish an English composers.
Since 2010 she has permanently been part of the artistic milieu in Cracow, being involved in projects that include both performing and recording otherwise unknown and not previously performed repertoire for B flat clarinet as well as of the diverse solo repertoire for the E-flat piccolo clarinet. Since 2012 she has collaborated regularly with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra. She is also a member of the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association, a co-founder of the Artistic Association Face of Music as well as member of the clarinet quartet ClaroNegro.
In 2023, the artist’s debut album “Spanish clarinet music of the 20th century” was released. It is a selection of works for clarinet and piano that allows to perceive the differences in contexts, dynamics, and the color of the Iberian Peninsula.
Agnieszka has taught her class of clarinet at the Oskar Kolberg Music School in Raciechowice. Her students have won numerous prizes in regional, national and international competitions. In 2020 she was invited to become a member of the jury panel of the International Online Competition for Wind Instruments, Percussion and Accordion Fanfares of Lviv Quarantine 2020 in Ukraine. During that event she had the pleasure to cooperate with a number of outstanding musicians and evaluate young artists from all over the world.
Repertoire
Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Kras specializes in the 20th century repertoire, particularly in the music of Spanish composers, such as: Miguel Yuste, Julián Menéndez, Joan Guinjoan, Salvador Brotons, Xavier Montsalvatge.
Another passion of hers is the literature for clarinet piccolo in E flat. Her repertoire covers, among others, the works of Jorge Montillia Piotr Mossa Bartolomé Pérez Casas, Seana Osborne, Alfred Prinz, Żaneta Rydzewska, Jeff Agrell, William Bolcom, Eduardo Morales-Caso. The artist has been actively involved in broadening the scope of Polish repertoire for E flat clarinet and in uncovering its interpretational and expressive potential in an unusual, soloist context.
In addition to that, her repertoire also includes solo and chamber works for clarinet, written by W. A. Mozart, J. Brahms, C. M. Weber, C. Debussy, C. Saint-Saens, J. Francaix, F. Poulenc, C. M. Widor or R. Muczyński.
