Rafal Blechacz
“. . . one of the greatest artists I have had a chance to hear in my entire life”
John O’Conor, jury member, Warsaw Chopin Competition, October 2005
Rafal Blechacz was born in Naklo nad Notecia, Poland, on 30 June 1985. At the age of five he began to learn the piano at a local music centre and three years later enrolled at Bydgoszcz’s Artur Rubinstein Music School. Between 1996 and 1999 he won the top awards at a number of Polish national piano competitions. He is currently completing his studies at the Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy in Bydgoszcz with Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron.
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2002 |
Rafal Blechacz is awarded the second prize at the Artur Rubinstein International Competition for Young Pianists in Bydgoszcz |
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2003 |
Co-winner of the International Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan |
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2004 |
Wins first prize at the International Piano Competition in Morocco |
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2005 |
Awarded first prize at the 15th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, and three special prizes: the Polish Radio Award for “Best Performance of the Mazurkas”, the Polish Chopin Society Award for “Best Polonaise Performance”, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Award for “Best Concerto Performance”. Additionally, he wins the prize founded by Krystian Zimerman for “Best Sonata Performance” |
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2006 |
Performances include Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 2 with the National Philharmonic Orchestra under Antoni Wit at the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, and Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman in Zurich and with the Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under Arild Remmereit at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In November he undertakes a 12-concert recital tour of Japan. Blechacz appears to great acclaim at Poland’s Chopin Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Verbier and La Roque d’Antheron. In May Rafal Blechacz signs an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon |
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2007 |
Rafal Blechacz performs Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Russian National Orchestra led by Mikhail Pletnev on tour in Japan, with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse on tour in Germany, with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, and with the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra in Poznan, Poland. Recital tours of Poland, Germany (including Munich’s Herkulessaal), Italy, Japan, the Netherlands (including at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam); further recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall (broadcast by the BBC), at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and in Zaragoza, and at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. Release of his solo debut recording of works by Chopin |
