Photo Wojciech Grzędziński

Jury chairman

Andrzej Tatarski

Pianist, teacher, member of the jury at international competitions. Leads a busy artistic life as a soloist and chamber musician. Recorded a number of albums with chamber and solo repertoire dominated by Polish and French music.

Tatarski graduated with distinction from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where he studied with Olga Iliwicka-Dąbrowska. He perfected his skills at postgraduate studies with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris. Whereas his repertoire is largely occupied by nineteenth- and twentieth-century Polish music, he has also made a number of premiere performances of works written by contemporary Polish composers. The artist is also interested in the French repertoire, including works by Olivier Messiaen: he was the first Polish pianist to have performed Messiaen?s series of Catalogue d'oiseaux and Petites esquisses d'oiseaux.

Tatarski has taken part in some prestigious music festivals, including the International Festival of Contemporary Music ?Poznań Music Spring? in Poznań, the International Festival of Contemporary Music ?Warsaw Autumn? in Warsaw, the Kraków International Festival of Composers in Kraków, the Karol Szymanowski Music Days in Zakopane, the International Andrzej Markowski Festival ?Wratislavia Cantans? in Wrocław, the Polish Contemporary Music Festival ?Musica Polonica Nova? in Wrocław, the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk and the Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój. He is regularly invited to perform at the Chopin recitals held in the composer?s birthplace in Żelazowa Wola and the Chopin Concerts at Łazienki Park in Warsaw. He has appeared alongside leading Polish symphony and chamber orchestras directed by eminent conductors, such as Mirosław Błaszczyk, Andrzej Boreyko, Tomasz Bugaj, Gabriel Chmura, Agnieszka Duczmal, José Maria Flor?ncio, Grzegorz Nowak and Marek Pijarowski. He has toured Europe, America and Asia, performing in the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, countries of the former USSR, Austria, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, France, Italy, Jamaica, Cuba and other countries.

 The artist?s discography incudes numerous archival recordings for Polish and foreign radio broadcasters, as well as CD albums and recordings for television and film, in which he performed both as a soloist and a chamber musician. He has recorded piano works by Henryk Wieniawski, Józef Wieniawski, Raul Koczalski and Ignacy Friedman for the label Selene, as well as Harnasie by Karol Szymanowski in a version for two pianos released by DUX. He has also made world premiere recordings with chamber music by Apolinary Szeluto. Tatarski regularly sits on the juries of national and international piano and chamber music competitions. He has taught at master courses in Poland and abroad, e.g. in the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Turkey, the United States, Italy and Ukraine. He was a long-standing teacher of piano in his alma mater.