Who Are the Members of Luteduo?

Luteduo is a Baroque lute duo made up of two musicians, Anna and Anton, who formed the ensemble to bring attention to the long-neglected duo repertoire for Baroque lute. The site's bio page names Anna Kowalska in full and gives her training and range; Anton appears only by first name in the available material.

Anna Kowalska

Anna Kowalska is the member whose background is documented in detail on the Luteduo bio page.

• Lute studies: She studied lute with Toyohiko Satoh and Nigel North at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands.
• Repertoire range: Her playing covers a vast repertoire from the Renaissance through the late Baroque, and extends into 19th-century repertoire for historical guitar.
• Other instruments: Beyond the lute, she has studied and performed on classical guitar, piano, and violin. According to the bio, this diversity continually fuels her interest in moving beyond the limits of original instrumental works for Baroque guitar and lute.

Anton

Anton is the second half of the duo. The available bio material identifies him as Anna's partner in Luteduo but does not give his surname, training, or instrument history. Any further detail about him would need to come from another page on the site.

What the Duo Does Together

The two members are described as united by a mutual fascination with music written during the final years of the lute's history. Their joint work includes:

• Being the first to perform and record the recently discovered duet compositions of François du Fault, as well as transcriptions of Marin Marais' duet viola da gamba compositions for two Baroque lutes. This became the program "Baroque Lute Duets," released on CD in 2002.
• Building duo repertoire for other combinations of historical plucked instruments, especially Baroque guitar and theorbo, in a program called "Baroque Insight."
• A large project devoted to J.S. Bach, covering solo lute works (including lute versions of solo violin and cello compositions) and transcriptions of other instrumental works for two 24-string Baroque lutes.
• 19th-century music for romantic guitar, played on copies of 6-string guitars by 19th-century maker René Lete strung with gut strings, featuring works by J.K. Mertz, F. Sor, F. Chopin, and Napoléon Coste, with a transcription of César Franck's Prelude Fugue & Variation, op.18 as a high point.

The duo has presented these programs across Europe, performing in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Switzerland.

Quick Reference

If you want to confirm Anton's full name and background, the most reliable route is to check other sections of luteduo.com or the duo's CD liner notes, since the bio page itself stops at first name.