Formed in the fall of 2013, the Herbert Piano Trio chose the great Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert as its patron. The trio made its debut at the Polish Radio Concert Studio in Katowice in 2014, and shortly thereafter began collaborating with the Zbigniew Herbert Foundation in Warsaw. The trio consists of Bartłomiej Wezner on piano, Joanna Kreft on violin, and Dominik Płociński on cello. The musicians are graduates of the studios of distinguished professors and artists: Ewa Pobłocka, Marcin Baranowski, and Andrzej Bauer.
The Herbert Piano Trio maintains a lively concert schedule, performing at venues including: the Philharmonic Halls in Opole and Gorzów Wielkopolski (L. van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Op. 56), the I. J. Paderewski Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, the Chopin Centers in Szafarnia and Żelazowa Wola, the Władysław Szpilman Polish Radio Studio in Warsaw, Aula Nova in Poznań, Artus Court in Toruń, and the Polish Embassy in New York. It has performed at numerous festivals, including the K. Jamróz International Festival in Busko-Zdrój, the Kraków Music Salon, the Rzeszów Music Autumn, and the L. van Beethoven Festival in Głogówek. The Herbert Trio has also performed at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, the Transvocale and PianOdra festivals in Frankfurt, and the 16th Schwandorfer Klavierfrühling in Schwandorf.
In April 2016, the Herbert Piano Trio reached the semifinals of the prestigious 7th International Joseph Joachim Competition in Weimar.
The Herbert Piano Trio has recorded for Radio Suisse, Polish Radio 2, and Radio PiK, among others. The ensemble has premiered compositions written specifically for it, including Szymon Godziemba-Trytek’s Elegy on the Departure of Ink, Lamps, and Pens - based on a poem by Zbigniew Herbert for vocal ensemble and piano trio (2018), as well as works by Rafał Janiak: Sounds of Robots to a text by Stanisław Lem for a narrator, piano trio, and percussion (2021), and Copernicana for a narrator, piano trio, and percussion (2024). In 2020, the ensemble recorded Józef Wieniawski’s Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 40, in the form of a documentary film (under the patronage of Polish Radio Two and the Henryk Wieniawski Music Society). In 2024, the album Music Stories was released, featuring compositions by Paweł Mykietyn, Hanna Kulenta, Ye Xiaogang, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Michał Dobrzyński. Zbigniew Zamachowski participated in the recording of Dobrzyński’s composition 2xH for a narrator, piano trio, percussion, and electronics.
The ensemble draws inspiration from participating in masterclasses led by great artists, including Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartett), the Jean Paul Trio, Niklas Schmidt (Trio Fontenay), Clive Brown, and Marcin Sikorski. The ensemble’s repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary music. A special place in the Herbert Piano Trio’s repertoire is held by an interdisciplinary project combining music with recitations of Zbigniew Herbert’s poems.
