was formed in 2002 by Dagna Sadkowska (violin), Michał Górczyński (clarinet, bass clarinet), Paweł Nowicki (percussion), and Piotr Nowicki (piano). The ensemble focuses on performing works of young composers active both in Poland and abroad created specifically for this unique instrumental combination. Kwartludium has given dozens of first world performances at many prestigious festivals all over the world. Contemporary improvised music plays an important role in the group’s activity, with the ensemble’s repertoire including graphic and intuitive compositions by the leading representatives of contemporary music, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Cornelius Cardew, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, and Dubravko Detoni. 

The group has appeared at many festivals including Warsaw Autumn, Unsound in New York, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Daegu Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble Europa in Cologne, Loop Festival in Brussels, Musica Viva in Lisbon, Contrasts in Lviv, Arena Festival in Riga, Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, Audio-Art in Cracow, Ad Libitum in Warsaw, and New Music Days in Gdansk. 

Kwartludium has performed a multimedia concert broadcast live by TVP2 together with the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by Daniel Gazon, and has appeared repeatedly at the Polish–German workshops of contemporary music supervised by Rüdiger Bohn. In 2007 Kwartludium won the Young Poland scholarship of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2009, amongst twenty-one outstanding ensemble specialising in contemporary music performance, it took part in the prestigious European project Re:new music. In 2012, the ensemble was invited to participate in another European programme: New Music:New Audiences, a continuation of the Re:New Music project. Since 2014 Kwartludium has collaborated with the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. As a result, seven pieces by Swedish composers dedicated to the Kwartludium ensemble have been composed. To date, composers who have participated in the residency programme include Rei Munakata, Joakim Sandgren, Mika Pelo, Fredrik Gran, Dror Feiler, Mansoor Hosseini, Ivo Nilsson, Alessandro Perini, and Henrik Denerin. 

The Kwartludium ensemble has performed in Australia, South Korea, China, the United States, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey, and has recorded for Dux, Requiem Records, Touch as well as Polish Radio, TVP Kultura, Polmic, WDR 3, and Deutschlandfunk. In 2022, the ensemble’s members received the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage’s award for their 20th anniversary.