Formed in 2002 by Dagna Sadkowska (violin), Michał Górczyński (clarinet, bass clarinet), Paweł Nowicki (percussion) and Piotr Nowicki (piano). The ensemble focuses on performing works of young composers created specifically for this unique instrumental combination. Kwartludium’s artistic output includes dozens of worldwide premiere performances at many prestigious festivals all over the world. Contemporary improvised music also plays an important role in the group’s activity. Their repertoire consists of graphic and intuitive compositions of composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Cornelius Cardew, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Dubravko Detoni.

The group performed at numerous festivals, such as International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn”, Unsound in New York, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Daegu Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble Europa in Cologne, Loop Festival in Brussels, Música Viva in Lisbon, Contrasts in Lviv, Arena Festival in Riga, Musica Polonica Nova in Wroclaw, Audio-Art in Kraków, Ad Libitum in Warsaw, New Music Days Festival in Gdańsk.

The ensemble performed together with the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by Daniel Gazon and took part in the Polish-German workshops of contemporary music under supervision of Prof. Rüdiger Bohn.

In 2007 Kwartludium became a laureate of scholarship programme of Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Young Poland”. In 2009 Kwartludium took part in a prestigious European project titled Re:New Music. In 2012 the group was invited to participate in another European programme New Music:New Audiences which was a continuation of the Re:New Music project. Since 2014 the Kwartludium has been collaborating with the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. As a result, seven pieces by Swedish composers dedicated to the Kwartludium ensemble have been composed. Composers who have participated in the residency programme include Rei Munakata, Joakim Sandgren, Mika Pelo, Fredrik Gran, Dror Feiler, Mansoor Hosseini, Ivo Nilsson, Alessandro Perini and Henrik Denerin.

The ensemble performed in Australia, South Korea, China, USA, Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Turkey. Kwartludium’s artistic output comprises recordings for such record labels as Dux, Requiem Records, Touch as well as Polish Radio, TVP Kultura, Polmic, WDR 3 and Deutschlandfunk.