Kwartludium was formed in 2002, and consists of graduates of music academies of Warsaw, Bydgoszcz, and Gdańsk. The ensemble, formed by Dagna Sadkowska (violin), Michał Górczyński (clarinet, bass clarinet), Paweł Nowicki (percussion), and Piotr Nowicki (piano), focuses on performing works of young composers active both in Poland and abroad. Kwartludium has given many Polish and world premieres, and has performed at numerous festivals such as Warsaw Autumn, Unsound in Cracow and New York, Ensemble Europa in Cologne, Festival of Dialogue of Four Cultures and Musica Moderna in Łódź, Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, Laboratory of Contemporary Music in Warsaw, JAZ Festival of Improvised Music in Katowice, Festival of Multimedia Art Audio-Art, Ad Libitum in Warsaw, Days of New Music and Avant Days in Gdańsk.
The ensemble performed a multimedia concert broadcast live by TVP2 with the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by Daniel Gazon, and took manifold part in the Polish–German workshops of contemporary music under the supervision of Rüdiger Bohn in Warsaw, Berlin, and Trebnitz.
During 2008 Warsaw Autumn, Kwartludium took part in a unique project, performing compositions written by the most promising Polish and Latin American composers for beatboxers and Kwartludium.
Contemporary improvised music plays an important role in the group’s activity. The ensemble’s repertoire includes graphic and intuitive compositions of the leading new music composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Cornelius Cardew, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Christian Wolf, and Dubravko Detoni.
In 2007, Kwartludium received a scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture within the Young Poland programme. Since 2009 it has joined 21 leading contemporary music ensembles in the prestigious European project titled Re:new Music, promoting the new European repertoire.