Acknowledged to have excellent musical skills and virtuoso performances, Axoum Duo include an eclectic repertoire compiling different kinds of present-day music – classical music transcriptions, film music, and also original compositions written by Gabriel Collet. Fully commited to today’s music, they perform premiers of new works, some of which have been dedicated to them.
They write soundtracks for documentaries and collaborate with artists from different fields creating interesting projects.
They regularly perform in France, Belgium, Poland and Asia.
In past seasons the duo appeared during “Les Journées de la Francophonie” (Wroc!aw, Poland), “65 International Chopin Piano Festival” (Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland), “International Seoul Drum Festival” (South Korea), Rachid Behboudov Theater (Bakou, Azerbaidjan), throughout Europe, including “Braunshweig Festival Classix”, “International Marimba Festival”, Japan Art Centrum Manngha”, “X Franz Schubert Music Festival”, etc.
Their first CD recording “Axoum New music for two marimbas” has been released in 2007 with, among others, three first recordings of the original pieces written for marimba duo. It has received enthusiastic reviews in France, Belgium, Japan and USA.
Axoum’s performances and recordings have been broadcast on different radios in Europe including: Musiques 3, Radio Bartok, Polskie Radio. The duo also makes appearances on different TV programmes.
The duo formed in Paris in 2000 by percussionists Elwira Slazak and Gabriel Collet. They hold degrees with the highest distinctions from Conservatories in Paris, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels (percussions). They graduated with diplomas with the highest honour from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Antwerp, Postgraduate Concert Soloist studies (marimba).
They are recipients of prestigious european grants: “Prix Luffin” and “The Sir Georges Solti Foundation” and are the prize winners of numerous international competitions: International Music Competition
(Belgium); VII & VIII International Krzysztof Penderecki Contemporary Chamber Music Competition, Cracow (I & II prize; prize-Axoum Duo was the first marimba duo in the history of the competition to win the First Prize); II International Marimba Duo Competition, Belgium (II prize).
In july 2011, they appeared as jury members in “4th Universal Marimba Competition” in Belgium.
The duo gives masterclasses and lectures in Europe. They organise the annual “Axoum International Marimba Academy” in Radziejowice, Poland.
Since september 2011 Axoum Duo is a YAMAHA Artist.
Visit the duo’s official website at www.axoumduo.com for more information
or
join them on Facebook “Axoum Duo – Official” profile

We have heard sparkling, fantastically executed composition ( …) ”
(…) Phenomenal presentation of Elwira Slazak and Gabriel Collet …”
Gazeta Wyborcza journal
(…) Music, from one part magic, from other spontaneous,
unusually and virtuozo (…) executed with great sensitivity and engagement ”

Besides her years of study at the music academies in Gdansk, Stuttgart and Salzburg, where she graduated with honours, her artistic development has been documented by numerous prizes at international competitions (1995 she won not only the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition for Marimba Solo, winning the audience prize there as well, but also the First World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart in 1996).

She has also been successful at other percussion competitions as well, winning First Prize at the 1991 Polish Percussion Competition in Opole and being awarded a special prize in the form of a stipend for foreign study at the 1992 “Concours International d’Execution Musicale” in Geneva. Katarzyna Myćka was also a finalist at the 1997 ARD Competition in Munich. During the same year she appeared as soloist at the First Marimba Festival in Osaka/ Japan, at the International Marimba Festival in Linz/Austria (2004) and at the most important marimba event until today – International Marimba Festival in Minneapolis 2010. She is a guest soloist with many philharmonic and chamber orchestras allover the world.

After having been awarded the honour of “Ambassadress of Polish Percussive Arts” by the Polish Percussive Arts Society in 1999, a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Artistic Foundation followed, as well as invitations to perform in concerts and give master classes in the U.S.A., Germany, Poland, Japan, China, Corea, Mexico, Luxembourg, Belgium, Bulgaria and Switzerland a. o.. Katarzyna Myćka made her American debut at the International Percussion Festival PASIC 1997 in Anaheim (LA), 2001 and 2008 she came back to PASIC performances in Nasville and Austin.

Meanwhile, Katarzyna Myćka has been called upon to serve on the juries of international percussion and marimba competitions (1999 & 2002 IPC inLuxembourg, in 2000 Warsaw, 2001 in Ostrava/CZ, 2004 and 2007 at Federal German Competitions Jugend Musiziert, 2005, 2007 and 2009 in Plovdiv/BL , 2006 at the International Marimba Competition in Linz/A and 2009 Concours de Geneve, 2010 Bonn/Germany.

She was teaching marimba at theMusicAcademy inPoznan for three years and cooperated with MusicAcademyinMannheim.

Following CD-recordings have been released:

1997 “Katarzyna Myćka – Marimba Spiritual”
1999 “Katarzyna Myćka – Marimba Dance”
2001 “Katarzyna Myćka – Marimba Concerto”
2003 “Katarzyna Myćka – Marimba Sculpture”
2005 “Mycka/Bacanu – J. S. Bach – Marimba Concertos”
2008 “Katarzyna Myćka – Marimba Classica”

www.marimbasolo.com

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