Katarzyna Lassak is an American-born Polish virtuoso violinist, a graduate of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (2020), where she received her Ph.D. degree with honours (2022) under the supervision of Janusz Wawrowski. She also studied under Agata Szymczewska. Katarzyna Lassak comes from a highlander family from Zakopane (Southern Poland, Tatra Mountains), which continues a multigenerational history of folklore music traditions. She is an award-winning lead violinist of the Lassak “Helios” Family.

Katarzyna Lassak popularizes the interesting and virtuosic “Highlander” Violin Concerto No. 2 by Jan A. Maklakiewicz on the stages of philharmonics. During her concerts – as an introduction to the performance of the violin concerto with symphony orchestras – she presents traditional highlander “nuty” (melodies) alongside the Lassak “Helios” Family Ensemble, as her own artistic “roots” and, at the same time, as the sources of inspiration for the composer.

She has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of the Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, Kolberg Philharmonic in Kielce, Baird Philharmonic in Zielona Góra, the Gorzów Philharmonic, the Polish Philharmonic “Sinfonia Baltica” in Słupsk and the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, as well as the chamber orchestra Warsaw Players, Tatra Mood Orchestra and Atom String Quartet. The artist has worked with such conductors as Michał Klauza, Łukasz Borowicz, Paweł Kapuła, Przemysław Fiugajski, Norbert Twórczyński, Agnieszka Kreiner and Michał Krężlewski. She has appeared at the international music festivals, including the String Festival “Masters of Polish Violin Playing,” Emanations, Gaude Mater, Musical Spaces, Musical Gardens, Świętokrzyskie Days of Music, the Piotr Janowski Festival, and the Wojciech Kilar Festival. She has played recitals at the ROMA Music Theater in Warsaw, the Karol Szymanowski Museum in the “Atma” villa in Zakopane, and the Presidential Palace, among others.

In 2022 in Zakopane a concert entitled “Composers’ Inspirations with Highlander Folklore” was held, based on the unique concept of Katarzyna Lassak. She presented together with the Lassak “Helios” Family from Zakopane highlander melodies that inspired the composers, and played the “Highlander” Violin Concerto No. 2 by Jan A. Maklakiewicz as a soloist with the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw conducted by Michał Klauza. The performance of the composition was on the 70th anniversary of the work’s creation in Zakopane, and a highlander melody, which was quoted in this violin concerto is the “anthem” / “festival song” of the International Festival of Highland Folklore, during which the event took place.

Katarzyna Lassak is the winner of many competitions. At the age of 18, she won the “Let’s Remember Osiecka” Vocal Competition. Throughout the last year, she won 10 first prizes at national and international competitions, including: Grand Prix “Sabała’s Fiddle” for the best instrumentalist at the International Festival of Highlander Folklore, and the “Dziadońka’s Bow” Honorary Award. She was a recipient of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2023, she was awarded the honorary title of “Wierchowa Orlica” (Mountain Eagle).

“Katarzyna Lassak comes from a highlander family of great musical traditions and is an intelligent and talented violinist. She combines her folklore traditions, violinistic expertise and vocal talents in a brilliant manner.” 

Professor Janusz Wawrowski

“The concerto has finally found its ideal performer – a violinist who understands the source music and its artistic recomposition. It is to be expected that the piece will be given a new concert life.”

Barbara Literska, The music magazine “Ruch Muzyczny”

Katarzyna Lassak “Helios” – prym (lead violin), vocal, pastoral instruments: traditional wooden flutes, carved fiddle

Halina Maciata-Lassak – sekund (accompanying violin), vocal

Anna Lassak “Helios” – sekund (accompanying violin), vocal

Tomasz Lassak “Helios” – basy podhalańskie (Podhale double bass), vocal

The Lassak “Helios” Family from Zakopane continues multi-generational traditions of highlander music from the Podhale region (Southern Poland, Tatra Mountains). One of the great-great-grandfathers in the Lassak family, Szymon Lassak from Ząb, played the “basy” (Podhale double bass). He was also a carpenter, who, in 1904, led the construction of the historic Chapel in Jaszczurówka, which was designed by Stanisław Witkiewicz. One of Szymon Lassak's sons, Franciszek Lassak “Helios” from Zakopane (1902–1983), a remarkable “prymista” (lead violinist) and also a carpenter and tailor of “portki góralskie” (traditional highlander men’s pants), passed on his skills to his sons and grandsons: Tomasz, Janusz, and Stanisław. In the Maciata family, the highlander musician and “prymista” Józef Maciata from Biały Dunajec (1925–1998) taught his children — Halina, Stanisław, Janina, and Anna — to play the traditional Podhale music. He was also a versatile and talented carpenter, who played in regional ensembles and taught children in Biały Dunajec to play the violin. The first source mention of the Maciata family from Biały Dunajec dates back to 1621. With regard to the long-standing musical traditions of the Maciata family, it is worth mentioning a certain iconographic monument dating back to 1809. This monument is an engraving by Blumenfeld, which depicts two musicians from Biały Dunajec. They are Jan Maciata, playing the pipe, and Tomasz Maciata, playing “koza”/ “dudy podhalańskie” (the Podhale bagpipe).

Drawing from such rich traditions, the ensemble of the Lassak “Helios” Family from Zakopane has repeatedly won top prizes in traditional music competitions: the 1st prize at the National Festival of Folk Bands in Kazimierz Dolny (2023); Grand Prix “Dziadońcyn Smycek” at “Dziadońcyne Granie” in Bukowina Tatrzańska (2023); the 1st prize in the Competition of Podhale Ensembles in Nowy Targ (2023); the 1st prize at “Muzykowanie na Duchową nutę” in Czarny Dunajec (2023);  the 1st prize at “Stefaniokowe Nuty” in Leśnica (2024); and the main prize at “Przednówek w Polanach” in Kościelisko (2013). The family actively participates in the activities of the Związek Podhalan (Polish Highlanders Alliance), church ceremonies, and numerous cultural events in the Podhale region, the country and abroad. The Lassak “Helios” Family from Zakopane in an extended ensemble, consisting of Halina Maciata-Lassak and Tomasz Lassak with daughters Katarzyna Lassak and Anna Lassak, Janina Lassak (née Maciata) and Janusz Lassak with daughters Michalina Lassak and Helena Lassak, as well as Stanisław Maciata, has performed numerous times at the Carols, Pastorales and Christmas Songs Festival in Zakopane.

Halina Maciata-Lassak (b. 1962) is an ethnomusicologist, a jury member of traditional music competitions (including the International Festival of Highland Folklore in Zakopane), a bilingual teacher, a long-time music instructor of the regional groups as well as their lead violinist (“prymistka”), and a violin teacher of highlander music. Majoring in musicology, she devoted her master’s thesis at the Jagiellonian University to the traditional wooden flute without finger holes used in the Podhale region. At the age of 10, she won the “Sabałowe Bajania” competition. She is a laureate of the First “Dziadońcyne Granie,” the Festival of Polish Highlander Folklore in Żywiec, and the “Na Góralską Nutę” Band Competition in Chicago. She was a member of the following regional ensembles: “Małe Podhale” (where she was the lead violinist), the A. Skupień Florek Group from Biały Dunajec, the “Skalni” Student Group from Cracow (where she held the role of the lead violinist and music instructor for 9 years), and “Hyrni” from Chicago. During the “Poroniańskie Lato” Festival in 1984, she was officially “crowned as the lead violinist.”

Tomasz Lassak (b. 1963) is a Podhale highlander musician and a highly regarded singer. He is a graduate of the Technical School of Regional Construction in Zakopane. He was a member of the highlander ensembles “Budorze” and “Hyrni.” He was the winner of “śpiew pytacki” (male singing connected with wedding customs) and horse-drawn carriage competitions that took place at the Tatra Autumn in Zakopane. In 2023, he won the Golden “Polaniorski Zbyrcok” in the solo pastoral singing competition at “Przednówek w Polanach.” He was a soloist in the highlander opera “Holy Father John Paul II in Podhale,” which was performed, among others, at the National Opera in Warsaw, the Cracow Opera, and the Teatro Capranica in Rome.

Katarzyna Lassak (b. 1996) has won numerous awards as a soloist and “prymistka” (lead violinist in the traditional Podhale highlander music): Grand Prix “Sabałowe Gęśle” for the best instrumentalist “in recognition of verity to the tradition of performance, instruments and repertoire” at the International Contest of Ensembles, Instrumentalists, and Folk Singers named after Wł. Trebunia-Tutka (2023); the 1st prize at the National Competition “Sabałowe Bajania” (2023); the 1st prize at the Polish Highlands Folklore Festival in Żywiec (2023); the main prize at the “Stefaniakowe Nuty” Competition (2022); the main prize at the “Berdowe Muzykowanie” (2012). In 2023, she was ceremonially “crowned as lead violinist.”

Anna Lassak (b. 1999) graduated with honours from the Vocal and Acting Department at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (2024), in the singing class of Jadwiga Rappé and Izabela Kłosińska. She is also a law graduate from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University. She has performed at venues such as the Cracow Philharmonic and the Grand Theatre – National Opera in Warsaw. She belongs to the Klimek Bachleda Folklore Group from Zakopane. She is a laureate of “Przednówek w Polanach”, “Sabałowe Bajania”, and the International Contest of Ensembles, Instrumentalists, and Folk Singers in Zakopane. She was a soloist in the highlander opera “Pope John Paul II in Podhale.”