On Sunday, June 16, at 11:30 AM, at St. Alexis Church in Oleksin, another concert will take place as part of the Church Music Festival. Father Canon Andrzej Witkowski, along with the parish community, wishes to commemorate the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit to the Diocese of Siedlce and to conclude the final phase of the organ renovation. During the concert, pieces by Vejvanovsky, Cutler, Torelli, Mozart, and Fasch will be performed by three artists: Tomasz Ślusarczyk (Warsaw) on trumpet, and Zuzanna and Maciej Bator (Świdnica) on the organ.

Artist Biographies:

Tomasz Ślusarczyk – born in Przemyśl, is a graduate of the Zespół Szkół Muzycznych in Przemyśl and the Academy of Music in Krakow (with honors). Since 1991, he has been associated with orchestras such as Capella Cracoviensis and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he has made numerous recordings for Polish radio and television. He collaborates with many orchestras in Poland and abroad, including the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra in Białystok, the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and since 2005, the renowned 18th Century Orchestra in Amsterdam under the direction of F. Bruggen. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals in Russia, Ireland, Germany, Ukraine, Korea, and the UK. He is invited to collaborate with distinguished musicians such as F. Bruggen, P. Esswood, Ch. Hogwood, M. Toporowski, and K. Gołębiowski. Under his artistic direction, the Polish 18th Century Orchestra has made several recordings of Jasna Góra music. He is also engaged in researching sources of church music in the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He often serves as a juror at national and international competitions. In 2021, he earned the title of Doctor Habilitated in Musical Arts. He teaches natural trumpet at the Krakow Academy of Music and the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Since 2019, he has held the position of visiting professor at the National Luhansk Academy of Arts in Kiev.

Zuzanna Bator – a Polish concert organist, is the president of the Good Music Foundation and the artistic director of the “Christian Schlag International Organ Festival,” held at the famous Church of Peace in Świdnica. She graduated from the “Staatliche Musikhochschule” in Stuttgart, in the organ class of Professor Bernhard Haas. She performs as a soloist and in a duo with her husband Maciej Bator, playing their own transcriptions of organ and symphonic music for four hands and four feet. The duo has recorded two CDs. In 2023, her first solo album was released, recorded at the Church of Peace in Świdnica, on the historic Schlag & Söhne organ from 1909. Zuzanna Bator is a scholarship holder of the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, the President of Świdnica, and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

Maciej Bator – the cantor of the Church of Peace in Świdnica, studied organ in Poland, Switzerland, and Germany. In 2019, he earned the title of Doctor of Arts at the Academy of Music in Krakow. He regularly performs concerts, promotes organ music, and the Świdnica organ-building company “Schlag and Sons.” He also spreads the idea of private organ concerts in reference to the old traditions of merchant cities. Together with his wife Zuzanna, he performs organ duets and transcriptions, mainly of symphonic works. He is a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and the President of Świdnica. He founded the first Online Organ School in Poland.