The Music Studio

The Music Studio offers the program of music education for children and teenagers from Sejny and its neighbourhood which includes both practice (instrument playing lessons) and theory (aural training, solfege, etc.). The classes are organized both individually and in groups. The people in charge of the music studio are wonderful music teachers. Radosław Nowicki, one of the leading Polish jazz saxophone players, coordinates all the curriculum: from the auditions for candidates through conducting classes on woodwind ( saxophone and clarinet) and percussion instruments (vibraphone, different percussion sets and percussive instruments etc.) to the lessons on the theory of music. Radosław Nowicki is also the leader of the band, Marycha River Brass Band which consists of all the musicians who work in our Music Studio. Kacper Szroeder is the graduate of the Borderland music programs who conducts classes on brass instruments and is responsible for the arrangements of the Klezmer Orchestra of the Sejny Theatre.

All the projects and activities of the Music Studio are supervised by Wojciech Szroeder, one of the founders of the Borderland Centre and Foundation in Sejny and Krasnogruda. He is a musician, actor and the director of theatre productions such as the Dybbuk and Wijuny. He comes from the Kashubian family where music traditions have been very deeply rooted. Wojciech Szroeder headed the revitalization of the Jewish quarter in Sejny and the manor in Krasnoruda. He has been in charge of the curriculum of the Music Studio of the Borderland for the last thirty years. As the leader of the Klezmer Orchestra of the Sejny Theatre he has educated several generations of young musicians from Sejny. Finally, he is the conductor of the Polish-Lithuanian Church Choir Kaimynai-Sąsiedzi (“neighbours” in Polish and Lithuanian) in the village of Żegary.

A number of projects are connected to the Music Studio. Apart from Sejny Theatre Orchestra, a good example is Musicians’ Raft which enables the audience to listen to artists from all over the world perform on their own or together with the Music Studio musicians. The main focus of the project is to look at the world of Jewish music reinterpreted in our times. Musicians’ Raft is often accompanied by art and photo exhibitions, literature evenings, film presentations, lectures and discussions. The project was launched in 2001.