Piotr Paleczny
Piotr Paleczny
Chairman of the Jury
Artistic Director of the 8th International Paderewski Piano Competition
Piotr Paleczny is one of the most eminent Polish pianists. He graduated from the Music Academy in Warsaw in the class of Professor Jan Ekier.
It seems that the possibility to maintain artistic contacts with Artur Rubinstein and Witold Lutosławski has played a significant role in molding his artistic personality.
The success he attained at the 8th International Chopin Competition was the gateway to numerous, prestigious concert stages worldwide. The fact of winning the 3rd award, along with Garrick Ohlsson and Mitsuko Uchida, special award for best polonaise performance and the Witold Małcużyński award, gave impetus to his career that the artist has been developing to this day, performing concerts on all the continents.
Piotr Paleczny was appearing as a soloist with such internationally renowned orchestras as the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the American Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchester from Zürich, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Argentina, or the Orquesta Nacional de España.
Piotr Paleczny has been appearing in famous concert halls such as the Carnegie Hall, the Avery Fisher Hall, the Alice Tully Hall, the Hall of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, the Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Festspielhaus in Salzburg.
The pianist was invited to conduct classes in Newy Jork, Tokyo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Bordeaux, Paris, Freiburg, Amsterdam, Hamamatsu, Montevideo, Toronto, Copenhagen, Mexico city, Lugano and Warsaw.
Piotr Paleczny has gained renown as a juror at well-established international piano competitions in Warsaw, Leeds, Paris, London, Cleveland, Toronto, Seul, Moscow, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Montreal, Tel Aviv, Santander, Tokyo, Kitzingen, Casablanca, Prague, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Geneva, Taipei, Shenzhen, Weimar, Manchester, Los Angeles, Hilton Haed and Takamatsu.
In June 2007 he was presiding over the workings of the famous Cleveland Piano Competition Jury, distinguishing himself as the first Pole invited to fulfill the function of the President of the Jury during piano competitions organized in the US.
On November 5, 2001 in the National Philharmonic Piotr Paleczny was a soloist during the Gala Concert staged to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic.
The recording – “The best of Chopin” – made with the Prima Vista quartet for the DUX Company has been awarded by the Polish Phonographic Academy with “Frederic 1999” prize and in December 2002 this CD achieved the status of the “Platinum Disc”.
Since 1993 the pianist has acted as Artistic Director of the oldest–standing music festival worldwide – the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój. Piotr Paleczny has also acted as Artistic Director of the
I. J. Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz and the member of the Program Council of the National Frederic Chopin Institute.
In 1998 the President of the Republic of Poland bestowed on him professorship.
Piotr Paleczny tutors piano class at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. It took no more than a decade of educational effort and the students working under Piotr Paleczny have been awarded over 20 prizes and honorable mentions at international and national piano competitions.
In January 2010 – Piotr Paleczny inaugurated the Year of Chopin with a special concert held in the Polish Sejm.
In recognition of his outstanding achievements Professor Piotr Paleczny has been honored with many decorations such as the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Mexican Medal “Aguila Azteca”. In September 2005 the artist was decorated with a Gold Medal “Deserved for Culture – Gloria Artis”.