Slavic Sessions

The album Slavic Sessions was one of just five albums nominated for the 2026 Grammy Awards in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. One of the major categories dedicated to chamber music, the nomination placed Mateusz Kowalski and Mak Grgić alongside some of the most acclaimed ensembles on today’s classical music scene. In 2026, the guitarists competed for the award alongside, among others, Neave Trio, Third Coast Percussion, and Alarm Will Sound, who ultimately took home the prize.

The project by Polish guitarist Mateusz Kowalski and Slovenian-born Mak Grgić was recognised not as a specialist or guitar-focused release, but as one of the finest chamber music recordings of the year.

The Slovenian section of the programme features the traditional melodies Shepherd’s Paths and The Mill, performed in arrangements by Slovenian composer and pianist Leon Firšt. They are joined by Macedonian Girl and Chicho by Miroslav Tadić, the Bosnian-born guitarist and composer who has spent years bringing the music of the Balkans into the concert repertoire.

The nineteenth-century Polish guitar tradition is represented by Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz, one of the outstanding guitar virtuosos of his era. In his Variations, Op. 6, written for guitar, he used the melody of Là ci darem la mano, the duet between Zerlina and Don Giovanni from Mozart’s opera. The same theme had previously served as the basis for Chopin’s famous piano variations.

Bobrowicz also arranged Chopin’s music for guitar. The inclusion of these works recalls the historical connection between the guitar and nineteenth-century salon culture, as well as the attempts made during Chopin’s lifetime to incorporate his music into the instrument’s repertoire.

The album also features the world premiere recordings of two works by Miroslav Tadić. Stana’s Lament, written for two guitars, takes the form of a deeply moving lament, while Walk Dance No. 2 draws on the irregular metres characteristic of the region's music.

Mateusz Kowalski was born in Koszalin in 1995 and graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with Ryszard Bałauszko and received the Magna cum laude medal. He has performed at venues including Vienna’s Musikverein and Shanghai Grand Theatre, as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London. A particular focus of his work is rediscovering Polish guitar repertoire and creating new transcriptions. In 2023, during the Chopin and His Europe Festival, he gave the first public performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor in an arrangement for guitar and orchestra.

Born in Ljubljana, Slovenian guitarist Mak Grgić is one of the most versatile contemporary artists on his instrument. He combines the classical repertoire with Balkan music, flamenco, contemporary music, and microtonal experimentation. He is a professor at the University of South Carolina and a co-founder of the international EuroStrings network of guitar festivals. The nomination for Slavic Sessions was already his fourth Grammy nomination – his previous albums Mak Bach, A Night in Upper Town, and Entourer had also received nominations.