Piotr Paleczny
Piotr Paleczny
Chairman of the Jury
Artistic Director of the Competition
Poland
One of the most acclaimed Polish pianists and professors, laureate of five international piano competitions. He completed piano studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw under prof. Jan Ekier.
Artistic contacts with Arthur Rubinstein and Witold Lutoslawski proved for Piotr Paleczny to be a unique opportunity to develop his artistic personality.
The success achieved at the 8th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition opened to Piotr Paleczny the doors of many prestigious world concert halls.
The fact of receiving, along with Garrick Ohlsson and Mitsuko Uchida, the third Prize, the Special Prize for the best performance of a Polonaise and the Witold Małcużyński Prize, launched the career which the artist has been enjoying until now performing concerts on all the continents.
He performed as a soloist with such renown orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony, the Concertgebouw, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, RAI, Santa Cecilia, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico and Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Argentina, the Warsaw National Philharmonics and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Piotr Paleczny gave concerts in prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the UN General Assembly Hall in New York, the Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Royal Festival Hall in London and Festspielhaus in Salzburg.
He has gained great recognition being a juror in over one hundred renown international piano competitions. On the 5th of November in 2001 Piotr Paleczny was invited to be a soloist during a Gala Concert to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since 1993 he has been the Artistic Director of the world’s oldest existing piano festival – the Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival and since 2004 he has also been the Artistic Director of the International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz.
Piotr Paleczny teaches piano at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and was granted the prestigious title of Honorary Professor of this institution.
In 2015 the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute released the latest CD recorded by Piotr Paleczny, which was greatly awaited and became a huge success among critics and the audience.
In April 2017, the Board of the Polish Phonographic Academy, in recognition of his artistic achievements, awarded Piotr Paleczny with the prestigious ‘Golden Fryderyk’ Award.
The artist has been honored with many superior and prestigious 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.
Honorary Citizen of the City of Bydgoszcz.