Piotr Paleczny
Piotr Paleczny
Chairman of the Jury,
Artistic Director of the 9th International Paderewski Piano Competition
One of the most outstanding Polish pianists and professors, laureate of five international piano competitions. He completed piano studies at the Frederick Chopin Music University in Warsaw in the class of prof. Jan Ekier.
The opportunity of having artistic contact with Arthur Rubinstein and Witold Lutoslawski also had a huge impact on the final development of his artistic personality.
A success achieved at the 8th Frederick Chopin International Piano Competition opened to Piotr Paleczny the doors of many prestigious world concert halls. Receiving, in company of Garrick Ohlsson and Mitsuko Uchida – the Third Prize, the Special Prize for the best performance of a Polonaise and the Witold Małcużyński Prize initiated his career, which the artist has enjoyed constantly until now performing concerts on all continents.
He performed as a soloist with such prominent orchestras as the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the Polish Radio National Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the American Symphony, Concertgebouw, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon, Gewandhaus, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, RAI, Santa Cecilia, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Argentina and Orquesta Nacional de España….
He gave concerts in prestigious concert halls including the Carnegie Hall, the Alice Tully Hall and the UN General Assembly Hall in New York, the Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Berliner Philharmonie, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Royal Festival Hall in London and Festspielhaus in Salzburg.
He has held master classes in New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Bordeaux, Paris, Freiburg, Seoul, Amsterdam, Hamamatsu, Montevideo, Toronto, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Lugano and Warsaw.
He has gained great recognition as a juror at splendid international piano competitions such as those organized in Warsaw (Chopin), Leeds, Paris, Tel Aviv, London, Cleveland, Geneve, Toronto, Seoul, Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Hamamatsu, Montreal, Santander, Tokyo, Sendai, Taipei, Weimar, Manchester, Los Angeles, Hilton Head, Takamatsu and Shenzhen.
In July 2007, he led the Jury works at the distinguished piano competition in Cleveland, the same he was the first Pole invited to fulfill a function of Jury Chairman at the USA international piano competitions.
On 5 November 2001, Piotr Paleczny was invited to be a soloist of the extraordinary Gala Concert to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.
His and “Prima Vista“ quartet’s CD, “The best of Chopin” (DUX) recorded with DUX records was awarded the “Frederick ‘99”, the prize by the Polish Phonographic Academy and in December 2002 this CD achieved status of the “Platinum Disc”. In 2015 the National F. Chopin Institute has released highly awaited the latest CD recorded by Piotr Paleczny – all Chopin recital. Honorary Citizen of City of Bydgoszcz.
Since 1993 he has been Artistic Director of the oldest existing piano festival in the world – the International Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki Zdroj.
Since 2004 he also is Artistic Director of the International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz.
In 1998 the President of Poland has conferred on him title of Professor. Piotr Paleczny conducts the piano class at the Frederick Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. His students have already won dozens of awards at the international and national piano competitions.
In January 2010 at the concert at the Polish Parliament, Piotr Paleczny inaugurated the Chopin Year. The artist is honored with many superior and prestige Polish and foreign medals such as the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Mexican Order of the Aguila Azteca. In September 2005, Piotr Paleczny was awarded the “Meritorious for Culture – Gloria Artis” Gold Medal.