Michał Szymanowski – piano

The Programme

Michał Szymanowski – piano

Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op posth.

Polonaise in C sharp minor, Op 26 No 1

Impromptu in F sharp major, Op 36

Mazurkas, Op 63

Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op 39

Nocturne in E major, Op 62 No 2

The Artist

Polish pianist and conductor, Michał Karol Szymanowski graduated with Honours from the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano with Ekaterina Popowa-Zydroń and symphonic-operatic
conducting under Zygmunt Rychert, honing his skills with Eldar Nebolsin at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin. At present he is a Professor at his alma mater, teaching piano. Michał Szymanowski is artistic director of the International Paderewski Festival in Warsaw and has won top awards in a number of national and international piano competitions, including: Chopin Piano Competitions in Warsaw, Daegu, Darmstadt, Szafarnia, MozARTè in Aachen, Horowitz in Kiev, Paderewski in Bydgoszcz, Moniuszko in Rzeszów, Zarębski in Warsaw, Yamaha in Katowice.

In 2015 Michał represented Poland at the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He has performed in many concerts worldwide, including the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Vatican City (a concert for Pope Benedict XVI), Warsaw’s Belvedere Palace (for the Polish President), numerous philharmonic halls as well as major festivals in Poland and abroad, among them Oficina de Música de Curitiba, Festival Chopiniana in Buenos Aires, Festival Europeo de Solistas in Caracas, Festival Pianistico di Roma, the Long Lake Festival in Lugano and the ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival in Warsaw, where he brilliantly performed piano concertos by Paderewski, Wieniawski and Stojowski.

Michał has released four albums with polish music: three solo albums for CD Accord (Naxos) and Saggitaria featuring compositions by Chopin, Paderewski, Szymanowski and Wieniawski. The recordings were critically acclaimed – one review saying: “this is heartfelt music-making of the type one associates with such luminaries as Uchida, Schiff and Brendel”. In 2024 he recorded all works for piano and orchestra by Paderewski, leading the Polish Paderewski Symphony Orchestra (DUX).