Friday June 13, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
PENDERCKI STRING QUARTET
Jerzy Kaplanek violin
Jeremy Bell violin
Christine Vlajk viola
Katie Schlaikjer cello
guest cellist Roman Borys
Jeremy Bell violin
Christine Vlajk viola
Katie Schlaikjer cello
guest cellist Roman Borys
ANNOUNCEMENT: The Marmen Quartet has had to cancel its North American tour in June because Johannes Marmer and his wife are expecting a baby around the same time. We hope to have the Marmen Quartet in 2026.
Guelph Musicfest is thrilled (and grateful) that the renowned Penderecki String Quartet and Roman Borys are able to perform in place of the Marmen Quartet. This will be a rare opportunity to hear the beautiful “Cello Quartet” by Schubert.
Guelph Musicfest is thrilled (and grateful) that the renowned Penderecki String Quartet and Roman Borys are able to perform in place of the Marmen Quartet. This will be a rare opportunity to hear the beautiful “Cello Quartet” by Schubert.
Brahms Quartet no. 3 in B flat, op. 67
Dinuk Wijeratne "Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems" (2014)
Schubert String Quintet in C major, D. 956 (”Cello Quintet”)
Dinuk Wijeratne "Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems" (2014)
Schubert String Quintet in C major, D. 956 (”Cello Quintet”)
Celebrating their 36th anniversary, the Penderecki String Quartet began their career as winners of the Penderecki Prize at the National Chamber Music Competition in Łódz, Poland in 1986. Now based in Waterloo, Ontario where they have been Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1991, The Penderecki String Quartet has become one of the most celebrated chamber ensembles of their generation. The four Penderecki musicians (now originating from Poland, Canada, and USA) bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail).
The PSQ's international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb. The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and from coast to coast in Canada.
Dedicated educators, the PSQ have been recent guests at Bloomington Indiana University’s String Academy, the Beijing Conservatory, University of Southern California (Los Angeles), University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and with their partner universities in Osnabrück, Germany and Lyon, France.
To this day the PSQ is a devoted champion of the music of our time, having premiered over 100 new works from composers in Canada and abroad. Penderecki Quartet's large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Beethoven and Brahms on both the Marquis and Eclectra labels, as well as the first Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition. In October 2013, the PSQ worked with Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki on his Third Quartet (2008) and performed it at Symphony Space in New York City on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This followed with the recording of Penderecki’s Third Quartet along with quartets of Norbert Palej on the Marquis label. In 2022, the PSQ was featured in Howard Shore’s soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Crimes of the Future.
The Penderecki Quartet has performed with diverse artists such as Atar Arad, Jeremy Menuhin, Stewart Goodyear, James Campbell and have recently appeared with jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, jazz pianists Egberto Gismonti, Don Thomson and David Braid, pipa virtuoso Ching Wong, Dancetheatre David Earle, Pentaedre Wind Quintet, actor Colin Fox, and New York turntable artist DJ Spooky.
The Penderecki Quartet continue to be active members of the Faculty of Music at Laurier University where they have built the string program to be one of the top programs in Canada, attracting an international body of students. Their annual Quartetfest at Laurier is an intensive study seminar and concert series that has featured such ensembles as the Tokyo, Fine Arts, Lafayette, Miro, Ying, and Ariana String Quartets.
The PSQ's international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb. The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and from coast to coast in Canada.
Dedicated educators, the PSQ have been recent guests at Bloomington Indiana University’s String Academy, the Beijing Conservatory, University of Southern California (Los Angeles), University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and with their partner universities in Osnabrück, Germany and Lyon, France.
To this day the PSQ is a devoted champion of the music of our time, having premiered over 100 new works from composers in Canada and abroad. Penderecki Quartet's large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Beethoven and Brahms on both the Marquis and Eclectra labels, as well as the first Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition. In October 2013, the PSQ worked with Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki on his Third Quartet (2008) and performed it at Symphony Space in New York City on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This followed with the recording of Penderecki’s Third Quartet along with quartets of Norbert Palej on the Marquis label. In 2022, the PSQ was featured in Howard Shore’s soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Crimes of the Future.
The Penderecki Quartet has performed with diverse artists such as Atar Arad, Jeremy Menuhin, Stewart Goodyear, James Campbell and have recently appeared with jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, jazz pianists Egberto Gismonti, Don Thomson and David Braid, pipa virtuoso Ching Wong, Dancetheatre David Earle, Pentaedre Wind Quintet, actor Colin Fox, and New York turntable artist DJ Spooky.
The Penderecki Quartet continue to be active members of the Faculty of Music at Laurier University where they have built the string program to be one of the top programs in Canada, attracting an international body of students. Their annual Quartetfest at Laurier is an intensive study seminar and concert series that has featured such ensembles as the Tokyo, Fine Arts, Lafayette, Miro, Ying, and Ariana String Quartets.

For more than two decades, cellist and producer Roman Borys has distinguished himself as one of Canada’s leading artistic voices. A founding member of the three-time Juno Award-winning Gryphon Trio, Roman has released 22 acclaimed recordings on Analekta, Naxos, and other labels; toured internationally since 1993; and broken new artistic ground through cross-genre collaborations and multimedia performances.
Honours include 11 nominations and three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year. In 2013, Canada Council for the Arts presented Gryphon Trio with the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. In 2015, Roman received an Honorary Doctorate from Carleton University, in Ottawa, as recognition for his contributions to the community.
As Artistic Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society, from 2007 to 2020, Roman programmed the summer Ottawa Chamberfest (among the world’s largest chamber music festivals); a highly successful fall-winter concert series; and a suite of community engagement and education initiatives, which included sensory-friendly concerts for families with children on the autism spectrum.
Deeply committed to classical music outreach and audience development, Roman conceived, developed, and produced the Gryphon Trio’s flagship educational program, Listen Up!, in communities across Canada. Listen Up! now has two permanent hubs in Ottawa and Etobicoke, Ontario.
With Gryphon Trio members Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker, Roman leads Orford Music Academy’s Piano Trio Workshop, and the Classical Music Summer Programs at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Gryphon Trio are ensemble-in-residence at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston, Ontario and artists-in-residence at Trinity College, University of Toronto. Roman lives and works in Toronto.
Photo of Roman Borys by Bo Huang
Honours include 11 nominations and three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year. In 2013, Canada Council for the Arts presented Gryphon Trio with the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. In 2015, Roman received an Honorary Doctorate from Carleton University, in Ottawa, as recognition for his contributions to the community.
As Artistic Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society, from 2007 to 2020, Roman programmed the summer Ottawa Chamberfest (among the world’s largest chamber music festivals); a highly successful fall-winter concert series; and a suite of community engagement and education initiatives, which included sensory-friendly concerts for families with children on the autism spectrum.
Deeply committed to classical music outreach and audience development, Roman conceived, developed, and produced the Gryphon Trio’s flagship educational program, Listen Up!, in communities across Canada. Listen Up! now has two permanent hubs in Ottawa and Etobicoke, Ontario.
With Gryphon Trio members Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker, Roman leads Orford Music Academy’s Piano Trio Workshop, and the Classical Music Summer Programs at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Gryphon Trio are ensemble-in-residence at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston, Ontario and artists-in-residence at Trinity College, University of Toronto. Roman lives and works in Toronto.
Photo of Roman Borys by Bo Huang
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