Bartłomiej Oleś & Mira Opalińska

TIME DIARY by DRUMBIENTONE

Bartłomiej Oleś - composer, ambient sounds
Mira Opalińska - piano

A series of sound images under the common title - Time Diary, describes using the language of music, memories of places changing under the influence of the atmosphere and passing time. The composition and its structures in addition to the original piano parts performed by Mira Opalińska will be based on ambient sounds performed by the composer. More info about forthcoming album during 2025!

"CAT'S SONGS - 17 HAIKU FOR PIANO"

Bartłomiej Oleś - composer
Mira Opalińska - piano

(...) in fact the most important reason that made this cycle take this form, is the character adorning the cover. Or, strictly speaking, his absence. It was his absence that made me sit down at the piano and in the space of literally a few weeks create 17 short pieces. The simplicity of the writen music decide to title the entire cycle, "Cat’s Songs – 17 Haiku for Piano", paraphrasing the title of a collection of piano pieces "Children’s Songs" by Chick Corea. Spiritually, my Haiku are closest to Erik Satie’s music. I hope the title will capture the listener’s imagination as much as the music itself." Bartłomiej Oleś

Album launched 8th Dec 2023.

Goldberg Variations

The Goldberg Variations is among Johann Sebastian Bach’s most monumental works for solo keyboard instrument. The iconic opening Aria—a haunting sarabande—gives way to 30 strikingly diverse variations built upon the initial 32-bar bass-line and its implied harmony.

As formidable today as it was when first published in 1741, this Baroque masterpiece demands from the performer great virtuosity and restrained sensitivity in equal measures. Indeed, Bach’s enduring genius is in his unrivalled ability to reconcile dry academic and instrumental technique with transcendent beauty; mathematical perfection with profound compassion.

Album launched at Recital Room, City Halls, Glasgow and released on Eleven Kinds record label on the 21st December 2017.

Opalińska & Whates

Opalińska & Whates. Both versatile and strikingly inventive musicians, Polish pianist Mira Opalińska and British bassist Douglas Whates have performed in many different settings, their combined output ranging from contemporary classical to European jazz. Taking inspiration from such varied genres and brought together by a shared aesthetic—particularly that improvised music should be deeper than arbitrary patterns of notes—this duo’s brand of contemporary jazz is as extraordinary as it is quietly powerful.

Audiences can expect a mix of spontaneous melodic improvising (often drawing from simple folk melodies or children’s rhymes) as well as music from their acclaimed debut Lumière; an album of unique arrangements of works by classic film and world cinema composers, Komeda, Morricone, Takemitsu and others.

Duo stopped performing at the end of 2017.