Piotr SAłajczyk
piano
Piotr Sałajczyk is a pianist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He is a recipient of the Fryderyk Award, Poland’s most prestigious phonographic prize, as well as the Orpheus Award for outstanding performances of Polish music. In 2017 he was nominated for the Paszport Polityki award for the “sensitivity and intelligence with which he approaches repertoire usually absent from our concert stages.” His artistic interests encompass both contemporary music and the rediscovery of lesser-known works of Polish Romanticism.
In 2017 he released a four-CD album featuring the complete piano works of Juliusz Zarębski. A year later he recorded the complete piano works of Władysław Żeleński, including the Piano Concerto with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra.
He has premiered numerous contemporary works and collaborates regularly with ensembles and artists such as the Apollon Musagète Quartet, Royal String Quartet, Meccore String Quartet, Hashtag Ensemble, Piotr Pławner, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Joanna Freszel, Agata Zubel and the Silesian Quartet. With the latter he recorded the Piano Quintet by Mieczysław Weinberg, which initiated his long-standing fascination with the composer. He is also a founding member of the chamber ensemble Weinberg Trio.
In 2021 Polish Radio released his recording of the piano sonatas by Mieczysław Weinberg. The album received enthusiastic critical acclaim; Norman Lebrecht wrote that “Sałajczyk interprets Weinberg with remarkable insight and intelligence,” while Dorota Szwarcman described it as “exactly the kind of piano Weinberg interpretation I had been waiting for.” The music of Karol Szymanowski occupies a central place in his artistic activity; in 2022 he became President of the Karol Szymanowski Society in Zakopane and Artistic Director of the Szymanowski Music Festival in Zakopane.
Piotr Sałajczyk maintains an active international concert schedule, performing with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonia Iuventus, AUKSO, Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra, with more than thirty piano concertos in his repertoire. He regularly appears at festivals in Poland and abroad, including Warsaw Autumn, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Musica Polonica Nova, Budapest Spring Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Musique et Neige, Silesian Quartet and Friends Festival, NOSPR Festival of Premieres, the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, Usedomer Musikfestival and the Cartagena Music Festival.
His numerous albums released by DUX, CD Accord, Hänssler, CPO and Naxos have received many awards in Poland and internationally, including Maestro Pianiste, Pizzicato Supersonic, 5 de Diapason, six Fryderyk nominations, Opera Nederland’s Album of the Month and a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). He has also recorded for Polish Radio Program 2, the Belgian radio station Musiq3, Deutschlandradio and HR2.
Piotr Sałajczyk is a Bösendorfer artist in Poland.