Photo: Justyna Andrzejewska
Pianist Przemysław Witek was born in 1985 in Wałbrzych, Poland. In 2009 he graduated with distinction at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, in the piano class of Professor Alicja Kledzik. He also studied at the University of Arts in Berlin and Academy of Music and Dance in Cologne. He has been teaching at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań since 2009, and started his own piano class in 2015, the same year he graduated with a Doctorate. Presently he is also running an artistic internship under the direction of Professor Krzysztof Jabłoński at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw.
Przemysław Witek has received many awards at international piano competitions, including 1st Prize, International Piano Competition in Rome (2004), two Special Prizes, “Arthur Rubinstein in Memoriam” International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2004), 1st Prizes at the Val Tidone (2005) and Racconigi (2006) competitions, and Special Prize, International Chamber Music Competition in Moscow (2007). In 2008, he was awarded the 1st and Best Virtuoso Prizes at the Adilia Alieva International Piano Competition at Grand Geneve-Gaillard, as well as the 1st and Best Polish Pianist Prizes at the “Halina Czerny-Stefańska in Memoriam” International Piano Competition in Poznań. These awards enabled him to record his debut album and started his concert career in Poland and abroad.
Przemysław Witek has performed concerts with the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra “Amadeus”, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, and symphony orchestras of Cracow Philharmonic, Koszalin Philharmonic, Sudetes Philharmonic, Lower-Silesia Philharmonic, Plock Philharmonic, Świętokrzyska Philharmonic and Szczecin Philharmonic, under the baton of such conductors as Agnieszka Duczmal, Marek Pijarowski, Paweł Przytocki, Jacek Rogala, Ruben Silva, Marko Ivanovič, Grigorij Krasko and Jakub Chrenowicz. He has played at inauguration concerts with the Montenegro National Philharmonic (season 2013/2014) and Sudetes Philharmonic (season 2010/2011), as well as the final concert of the 2009 Polish Pianism Festival in Słupsk.
Additionally, Przemysław Witek often plays in chamber concerts, working with such musicians as Benedict Klöckner, Jiři Kabat, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Katarzyna Budnik-Gałązka, Janusz Wawrowski and Bartosz Woroch. He has played recitals in all the major cities of Poland, and has made solo concert tours in the USA, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany Switzerland, Ukraine, and Russia.
In 2004 and 2012, Przemysław Witek made archival recordings of works by Karol Szymanowski for the Vatican Radio. In March 2011, the Polish Radio and Ponte Art Production released his debut album “Décadence”, featuring works by Szymanowski and Rachmaninov. More recently, in 2014, he gave the world premiere recording of Andrzej Nikodemowicz’s Piano Sonata and the Polish premiere recording of Mieczysław Weinberg’s piano works.
This afternoon, Przemysław Witek will present a piano masterclass with NAFA Keyboard students, and present a lecture on "Legato and its consequences in Frédéric Chopin's 24 Etudes".