Gacek-Duda, Katarzyna

She studied flute playing with Stanisław Michalik at the Academy of Music in Katowice, graduating in 2007. She then took up postgraduate flute studies in Jadwiga Kotnowska’s masterclass at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (2012). At present she is a PhD student in Maria Pomianowska’s class at the Academy of Music in Cracow. She obtained a Socrates–Erasmus scholarship to study with Wolfgang Schulz at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts, and developed her skills notably under Gisela Mashayekhi-Beer and Robert Wolf, as well as at masterclasses taught by Aurèle Nicolet and János Bálint. She also took part in recording sessions and music projects for Mate.O, Natalia Niemen, and GŁYK P.I.K. Trio. She has performed with artists such as Adam Sztaba, Jan Smoczyński, Gabriela Gąsior, Acoustic Quartet, and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy under Marek Moś. She plays the world’s flutes in Maria Pomianowska’s ensemble. 

Katarzyna Gacek-Duda has given performances in Poland, Europe, Asia and South Africa. As an orchestra member she has played under conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Uroš Lajovic, and Marzena Diakun. 

With Joachim Mencel, she has written music for documentary film series (including Zebrzydowski). She has won prizes in national and international competitions, including Polish Radio Channel 2’s Golden Gusle at the New Tradition Polish Radio Folk Festival, 1st Prize and Polish Radio Channel 2 Award at the Festival of Folk Bands and Singers in Kazimierz Dolny, 3rd prize at the Folk on St Nicholas Day International Festival (with Królestwo Beskidu band, with which she has performed worldwide and recorded their debut album Hala in 2017). 

Katarzyna Gacek-Duda was a teacher at the Council Secondary Music School in Żywiec. Since 2011 she has taught improvisation and aesthetics of playing the world’s flutes and transverse flute at the CSM Christian Innovative Music School. She has conducted music education classes for school children and teenagers at the Silesian Philharmonic and collaborated with the Institution for the Silesia Promotion and Dissemination of Music in Katowice. She was shortlisted for the Gazeta Krakowska and Dziennik Zachodni 2018 Personality of the Year “for splendid presentations of folk music and popularisation of flutes from all over the world.” She actively promotes the music of the Beskid mountains, playing shepherd instruments such as recorders and pipes.