Agnieszka Budzinska was born in 1973 in Szczecin (Poland) and graduated from the Piano Department of Szczecin Conservatory in 1992. Whilst at the Conservatory she also attended singing lessons and performed as a choir member and soloist with many choirs throughout Poland and Northern Europe (Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway). 

In 1992 she began musicological studies at Poznan University from where she graduated in 1999 (Masters Degree in Musicology), writing a thesis on late medieval German music. In 2010 she completed her Ph.D. (thesis on 13th-century French motets).

Agnieszka’s love for medieval times began with her early passion for Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature and culture (followed by the French roman and the poetry in langue d’oc). Being already a trained musician and musicologist, she got inspired by Sequentia’s performances in Stary Sacz (Poland) and deeply influenced by their serious and creative approach to medieval song.

In 1994 and 1996 she was awarded a scholarship to attend vocal masterclasses with Evelyn Tubb and Emma Kirkby during the Dartington International Summer School in England. In 1996 she took private singing lessons with Ansy Boothroyd in London over the course of a year.

Her profound interest in medieval music brought her to Cologne where she attended courses with the late Barbara Thornton (Ensemble Sequentia, Köln, 1997). During 1997-2001 she continued her studies in Medieval/Renaissance voice (Richard Levitt, Kathleen Dineen, Evelyn Tubb and Dominique Vellard) and the medieval harp (Heidrun Rosenzweig) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, taking part in various medieval, renaissance and baroque projects. In the years 2001-2006 she studied voice with Stefan Haselhoff in Basle. In 2010 she completed a Master in Advanced Vocal Ensemble Studies (summa cum laude) with Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

During her voice studies she attended various lectures at the Musicological Institute at the Basel University. After finishing her vocal education at the Schola Cantorum in 2001, she took postgraduate studies in Musicology working on early medieval notation, style and performance practice with such scholars as Prof. Wulf Arlt and Prof. Joseph Willimann. Apart from her musicological studies, she was able to develop her early interest in Germanic languages by attending the Norse Philology faculty, taking courses in Old Norse language and literature as well as modern Norwegian and Icelandic. From 2001-2004 she was employed as an Assistant at the Microfilm Archive of the Musicological Institute of Basel University, using its rich working facilities for her practical work as a medieval music performer.

At present, Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett belongs to the research team of Schola Cantorum Basiliensis  working on the Schweizer Nationalfonds/Swiss National Science Foundation project “The Reconstruction of Performing Conventions in Aquitanian Repertories of the 11th-13th Centuries” (in cooperation with Corpus Monodicum project at the University of Würzburg)

Agnieszka Budzinska is the co-founder and the spiritus movens of Basel-based ensemble Peregrina, specializing in early medieval vocal music. This young dynamic ensemble has already been invited to many important festivals in Switzerland and abroad. The group’s recordings (Mel et lac/Raumklang 2005, Filia praeclara/Divox 2008, Crux/Glossa 2010, Sacer Nidus/Raumklang 2011) have already received the critical acclaim in the international press and numerous awards such as the prestigious ECHO-KLASSIK 2009, Goldberg 5* (Spain), Supersonic Pizzicato (Luxembourg), a.o.

Agnieszka also sings in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Island, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia and Poland with diverse groups such as the Ferrara Ensemble, ensemble Slowo and ensemble Perlaro (Basel), Ensemble Orlando (Fribourg), Syntagma (Metz), and the orchestras La Cetra (Basel), Accademia dell’Arcadia or Arte dei Suonatori (Poland). She’s a member of ensemble Perlaro with which in 2007 she went on tour to China and won 5 Diapasons for the group’s first recording (Sotto l’imperio/PanClassics, 2009)

Agnieszka Budzinska made her successful theater debut as Amor and Valletto in the production of Claudio Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (with Barockorchester La Cetra; mus. dir. Konrad Junghänel; dir. Nigel Lowery) in the 2003/2004 season at Theater Basel. She also appeared as Barbara Sommer in the premiere of Andreas Pflüger’s contemporary opera “Mord in St. Johann” in Basel in 2009.

Her pedagogical activities include medieval music courses at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, guest lectures at the Poznań University and Tartu University and various other courses on early music performance practice in Switzerland, France and Poland. 

Her passion for languages allows her to fluently speak English, Italian and German (Diplomas: Certificate of Proficiency in English, University of Cambridge 1996 and Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera CILS 3, Universita di Siena 2005); she's also able to communicate sufficiently in French and Russian and has a good orientation in Middle Latin, langue d'oc, Old French and various ancient Germanic languages.  

Agnieszka has been constantly praised for her passionate performances (including a one-hour solo recital with medieval laments and the “Ultima thule” programme with Icelandic music of the Middle Ages) and the careful way of preparing Peregrina’s programmes which has secured her the respectable place among musicologists and early music performers alike.