Hashtag Ensemble becomes the first Polish ensemble to release an album on the prestigious KAIROS label. The record “Futility” features works by Rafał Zapała that the ensemble performed in the United States and Poland, along with one world premiere.
In February, Hashtag Ensemble began celebrating its 10th anniversary with a rapturously received concert “Still in the Middle” at the Hashtag Lab Contemporary Music Space. To mark a decade of the cooperative — uniting 17 musicians specializing in the performance of the newest music — there had to be gifts. A truly exceptional one, both for the ensemble and for music lovers, will be the premiere of the album “Futility” featuring the music of Rafał Zapała.
Hashtag Ensemble has been collaborating with Rafał Zapała — an outstanding Poznań-based composer, co-founder of the social initiative “Music Co-working” and Fulbright scholarship recipient — since 2020. Zapała’s interest in expanding the forms of music presentation is close to the identity of Hashtag Ensemble, an ensemble that likewise enjoys experimenting with audience perception and performing in unexpected places and situations.
Four years of collaboration first produced the concert program “Introverts Collective,” performed in the US at Stanford and Berkeley universities in California and at Hashtag Lab, followed by a commissioned composition — this time a solo work for violin with electronics — and ultimately a joint recording project.
We want the process of creating new music together to build genuine bonds between composers, performers and collaborators. The kind of bonds that, years later, allow you to find each other on another continent and pick up the conversation about art as if you had seen each other yesterday. — says Hashtag Ensemble flutist Ania Karpowicz.
The Polish premiere of the album “Futility” will take place on April 4 at 7:00 PM at Hashtag Lab, ul. Barska 29, Warsaw. Ensemble members and the composer will discuss collectivity in the music-making process, and the concert “Meaning Detected” will feature compositions by Rafał Zapała, Jacob TV, Wojciech Błażejczyk and João Pedro Oliveira performed by Marta Piórkowska (violin), Magda Kordylasińska-Pękala (percussion), Oliwier Andruszczenko (bass clarinet) and Dominik Płociński (cello). The concert will be hosted by Ania Karpowicz.
Hashtag Lab is worth visiting not only on concert days, but also every day. Since March 1, a music reading room has been open at Barska 29, Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 2 PM, offering records, vinyl, books, magazines and fast Internet — all to enjoy with a cup of coffee in the workshop space and on the green patio.
Hashtag Ensemble — a new music ensemble — and Hashtag Lab — a new music venue — are represented and managed by the Sfera Harmonii Foundation: https://www.sfera-harmonii.org
Hashtag Ensemble website: https://hashtag-ensemble.org
The Hashtag Lab Contemporary Music Space is co-financed by the City of Warsaw.