Rondo Vocal Ensemble / Wrocław
21st March 2026 r. / at 6:00 PM
Parish of St. App. Philip and Jacob in Żory
Rondo Vocal Ensemble is a dynamic group of young artists that has been active on the music scene for 20 years. Founded in 2006, the ensemble originally brought together exclusively graduates of the Grażyna Bacewicz First-Level Music School in Wrocław – former members of the Con Brio Choir, conducted by Małgorzata Podzielny until 2022.
Over time, Rondo has expanded to include singing enthusiasts, students and graduates of Wrocław’s universities, as well as former members of the NFM Boys’ Choir and the NFM Girls’ Choir, both led by the same conductor. The members of the ensemble combine their passion for music with education and careers in a wide range of fields. Rondo performs in Poland and abroad, presenting a repertoire that spans a broad stylistic spectrum – from Renaissance chansons to contemporary works, as well as arrangements of popular music standards and folk songs. The ensemble appears in a cappella programmes and takes part in vocal-instrumental projects in collaboration with professional orchestras and choirs, including at the International Wratislavia Cantans Festival and the Leo Festival.
The Rondo Vocal Ensemble has won more than 40 national and international choral competitions. In recent years, its achievements have included:
- Grand Prix, Gold Diploma, and the Main Prize – the Jerzy Liban Lute of Legnica (awarded permanently to the ensemble as a three-time winner of the 48th, 50th and 52nd editions) at the Legnica Cantat 52 National Choral Tournament (2022);
- Second Prize in the secular music category at the 71st Guido d’Arezzo International Polyphonic Competition (2023).
Rondo is also a two-time recipient of the highest choral distinction in Poland – the Stefan Stuligrosz Polish Choral Grand Prix in Poznań (2019, 2022). The ensemble has participated in the recording of four albums: Musica grata Deo (2013), Rondo kolęduje (2014), Teraz (2019) and Filharmonia Pana Kleksa – an album nominated for the 2024 Fryderyk Award, featuring Michał Ziółkowski’s arrangements of music from the Mr. Kleks films, recorded with the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra and the children’s choirs of the National Forum of Music.
Małgorzata Podzielny – a conductor, music theorist, and professor at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. Since 2024 she has served as Head of the Department of Music Education at her home institution, where she teaches choral conducting and courses in methodology for working with children’s choirs, combined with ensemble practice.
She is the author of Shaping the Artistic Attitude of the Young Chorister (2014) and the scientific editor of two volumes of Working with a Children’s Choir (2019, 2023), published as a result of international and national conferences of the same title, for which she serves as an academic director. She also edited the collection Children Sing! Volume 1. Two- and Three-Part A Cappella Works for Children’s Choir (2025), published by the Wrocław Academy of Music. For 20 years she directed the Con Brio Choir at the Grażyna Bacewicz First-Level Music School in Wrocław. She currently leads the Rondo Vocal Ensemble (since 2006), the NFM Boys’ Choir (since 2009), and the NFM Girls’ Choir (since 2022). Under her direction, these ensembles have won more than 150 awards at nearly 100 national and international competitions, including twice the Stefan Stuligrosz Polish Choral Grand Prix (2019, 2022) with the Rondo Vocal Ensemble.
Małgorzata Podzielny serves as a juror at national and international choral competitions and conducts numerous workshops and seminars devoted to children’s and youth choral conducting. She is the recipient of 45 individual awards, including the Meritorious for Polish Culture badge, the Bronze and Silver Cross of Merit, the Second-Degree Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and the 2023 Wrocław Artistic Award in the classical music category