Grzegorz Niemczuk
In January 2017, Polish Radio One compared the interpretations of Chopin’s works by Grzegorz Niemczuk with those by outstanding artists such as Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini and Adam Harasiewicz. It was undoubtedly due to the fact that for several years this young artist’s career has been developing at a rapid pace and he now belongs to the most active Polish classical pianists. His rich international solo career, which has already been going on for 17 years, led him to perform in many prestigious concert halls all over the world. So far, the pianist has given over 400 recitals and concerts, visiting 36 countries on 6 continents (Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Romania, Finland, Norway, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, the United States, Jamaica and Curacao). He often acts as the host during his own concerts, at which he unveils the intricacies of the music he performs before his listeners and mentions interesting facts from the composers’ biography. He is especially appreciated in Asia. After his spectacular solo debut in Tokio in July 2017, the prestigious Chopin magazine published an enthusiastic review of his performance, which led to further invitations to give recitals in Japan (in Tokio, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Asahikawa, Obihiro, Hakodate and Aomori) and a contract with Chopin for monthly articles about performing Chopin’s music. In December 2017 he made his debut in China, where he performed in the prestigious Beijing Concert Hall at the Polish Circles of Art Festival (the largest festival of Polish art in China). This concert reverberated in all major Chinese media outlets. Since then, he has regularly performed in China and has become an important performer at the Circles of Art Festival. He is also a favourite with Norwegian audience – so far, he has performed in over 30 different Norwegian cities, causing great enthusiasm and receiving invitations for further performances. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 stopped the pianist’s concert activities, but it also opened up the possibility to be active online. In April 2020, Grzegorz Niemczuk started a project that is unprecedented and unique on a global scale. It is a series of video lectures about all the works of Frédéric Chopin, addressed mainly to music lovers who want to better understand the masterpieces of the most outstanding Polish composer. At the end of January 2022, there were 320 episodes in two language versions (Polish and English), which the pianist published on YouTube and his official Facebook page. A studio recording of all compositions by Frédéric Chopin is planned for 2023. Grzegorz Niemczuk has a very extensive repertoire, which includes over 300 solo pieces and 28 concertos for piano and orchestra, from Baroque pieces to the music of the 20th and 21st century. He currently lives in Bielsko-Biała. In October 2017, he was awarded a Ph.D. in music while he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Rzeszów (the Faculty of Arts). His students win national and international piano competitions. He is also invited to conduct master classes at many universities of music around the world, such as the Nanyang Academy of Art in Singapore, Norges Musikkhøgskole in Oslo, University in Agder, Kristiansand, University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, Santa Catarina State University in Florianopolis, State University in Porto Alegre, Brazil, National University of Music in Lima, Peru, Xiamen University and Changde University in China.