An award ceremony was held during a concert marking the inauguration of the new academic, held in a new campus of the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, northern Poland.
Blechacz graduated from the Bydgoszcz Academy in 2007 and since 2020 has been a member of its faculty.
Blechacz is the winner of the 2005 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. The success skyrocketed him to stardom, with performances in such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Milan’s La Scala, and London’s Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall.
He has appeared with leading orchestras under many outstanding conductors including Charles Dutoit, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Trevor Pinnock, Mikhail Pletnev, Jerzy Semkow, Antoni Wit, and David Zinman.
Blechacz has recorded exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, starting with Chopin’s Preludes, followed by both of the composer’s concertos and polonaises, sonatas by Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, a selection of works by Szymanowski and Debussy, and a CD featuring works for piano and violin by Fauré, Debussy, Szymanowski and Chopin (recorded with South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim).
His distinctions include the 2014 Gilmore Artist Award, one of the highest honors in piano performance, and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Reborn Poland.
(mk)