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Wojciech Switala

Wojciech Świtała Graduate of Professor Józef Stompel’s piano class at the Academy of Music in Katowice. In the years 1991-1996 he perfected his piano skills under supervision of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, André Dumortier and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden.

He is a laureate of International Piano Competitions in Paris (Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud Piano Competition) and Montreal. He was the best Polish contestant of the 12th International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he was granted the prize for the best performance of polonaise and a number of non-statutory prizes. Soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in various venues across Europe, North and South America. He has collaborated with most Polish symphony orchestras, the Aukso Orchestra, the Silesian Quartet, the Camerata Quartet, Royal String Quartet, as well as violinists Szymon Krzeszowiec, Piotr Pławner, and soprano Ewa Iżykowska. He has made about a dozen of recordings for such labels as PolskieNagrania, Bearton, DUX, Sony Music Polska, IMC and Chandos, featuring works of Bacewicz, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Schumann, Szymanowski and Zarębski.

In the years 2000 and 2005, his albums were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin. In 2002, 2009 and 2019 – he was honored with the “Fryderyk” award. Since 1998 he has been engaged in teaching. He is a professor in the Piano Department at the K. Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. In the years 2008-2012 he was additionally vice-rector for the science and didactics, and in the years 2012-2016 he was the head of the Piano Department at the University. Currently, he is also a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Juror of international piano competitions, including the M. Long and J. Thibaud Competition in Paris (2009), F. Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2015,2021), V. Horowitz Competition in Kiev (2016, 2019), A. Rubinstein Competition in Beijing (2016), and I. J. Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz (2010, 2013), as well as many others (Australia, Bulgaria, France, Japan, Singapore, Italy, USA). He regularly conducts piano courses in Poland and abroad (China, Japan Germany, USA). Originator and the main organizer, (until 2017), of the International Piano Masterclasses in Katowice. In 2014, he was appointed to the Program Council of the National Frederic Chopin Institute. From December 2021, a member of the board of the Frederic Chopin Society in Warsaw.