Piotr Pawlak

One of the most versatile Polish pianists of the younger generation. He is the winner of numerous international competitions, including the 5th International Maj Lind Piano Competition in Helsinki (2022) and the 11th International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt (2017), Audience Favourite at the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (2025), and a prize-winner at the Chopin competitions in Beijing (2016), Budapest (2018) and Kraków (2019). He has also received awards at the International Stanisław Moniuszko Polish Music Competition in Rzeszów (2019), the International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2022), and the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw (2023).

He has performed in numerous European countries as well as in the United States, Canada, China and Japan. He has appeared with many orchestras, including the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, the Baltic Philharmonic, the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic, the Lower Silesian Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the St Petersburg Philharmonia, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Sala Verdi in Milan and Teatro alla Scala, as well as at festivals including Kissinger Sommer in Bad Kissingen and “Chopin and His Europe” in Warsaw.

In the 2025/2026 season he performs in Japan, Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland, collaborating with the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta and {oh!} Orchestra, among others. His post-Chopin Competition tour includes most major Polish philharmonic halls, including those in Kraków, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Kielce and Opole, the National Forum of Music in Wrocław and the Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw, as well as appearances in London, Milan and Tokyo.

In January 2025 an album of Józef Elsner’s chamber music was released, recorded with musicians of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra (the first recording on period instruments). In February 2025 the Fryderyk Chopin Institute released his debut solo album featuring music by Fryderyk Chopin: a recording of his performances during the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments.

He began his musical education at the age of six at the Feliks Nowowiejski General Music School in Gdańsk under the guidance of Ewa Włodarczyk, and later continued his studies with Professor Waldemar Wojtal until graduating in 2021. He also completed organ studies in the class of Dr Hanna Dys and is currently studying conducting at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk in the class of Professor Zygmunt Rychert. Since 2024 he has also been a student of the prestigious International Piano Academy Lake Como.

The pianist is committed to restoring improvisation to the world of classical music. He draws inspiration from historical performance practice, for example by performing improvised cadenzas in Mozart’s concertos. At the Chopin Competition in Darmstadt, in addition to first prize, he also received the award for the best improvisation on themes from Weber’s “Der Freischütz”. In 2020 he won second prize in the Transatlantyk Instant Composition Contest during the International Film Festival in Katowice.

Alongside his pianistic career, Piotr Pawlak is also a prize-winner of organ competitions and mathematics Olympiads. In 2020 he completed his Master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Gdańsk.