Sławomir Pawel Dobrzański (born 11 May 1968) is a Polish-American pianist, teacher and musicologist.

Biography

He was born in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

(Poland). He is a graduate of the Chopin Academy of Music in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, where he studied with

Regina Smendzianka Regina Smendzianka (9 October 192415 September 2011) was a Polish pianist. Biography Regina Smendzianka was born in Toruń, and began her public performances as a child of eight surprising the audience with her mature interpretation of the classi ...

, Andrzej Dutkiewicz and Jerzy Maciejewski. He also studied privately with Kajetan Mochtak in Warsaw. In 1992-1994 he studied at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in Lawrence with Jack Winerock. He also participated in summer courses in Switzerland and Poland, where he studied piano performance with Malcolm Frager,

Mieczysław Horszowski Mieczysław Horszowski (June 23, 1892May 22, 1993) was a Polish and American pianist who had one of the longest careers in the history of the performing arts. Life Early life Horszowski was born in Lwów (Lemberg), Kingdom of Galicia and Lodome ...

and

Victor Merzhanov Victor Karpovich Merzhanov (; 15 August 191920 December 2012) was a Russian pianist, honoured as People's Artist of the USSR in 1990. Biography Merzhanov was born in Tambov and studied at Tambov Musical College with Solomon Starikov and Alexan ...

. Additionally, he benefited from coaching sessions with Nina Tichman in Mainz, Germany, and Jan Gorbaty in New York City. In 2001, he graduated with the

Doctor of Musical Arts The doctor of musical arts (DMA) is a doctorate, doctoral academic degree in music. The DMA combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually Performance, music performance, music composition, or conducting) with graduate-le ...

degree from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, where he was a student of Neal Larrabee and Zelma Bodzin.

Piano career

Dobrzański has taken part in numerous music festivals, both as a lecturer and concert artist, among others at the International Festival of New Music in Darmstadt (1989), "

Warsaw Autumn Warsaw Autumn () is the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music. It was established in 1956 by two composers, Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, and officially established by the Head Board of the Polish Composers' Union ...

" (1990), List-Glenn Festival at California State University in Los Angeles, CA (1990, 1999), Chopin Festival in Hawaii (1993), Mid-West Society of Composers Conference in Edmond, OK (1993), Potomac River Piano Festival in Great Falls, VA (VA, 1999), the International Chopin Piano Festival for Young Pianists in Wrocław (2000), Szymanowski Festival in Beijing (2011) and "Interfest Bitola" in Macedonia (2013). Dobrzański is the founder and former artistic director of the Chopin Society of Connecticut established in 1998. He frequently performs as soloist and chamber musician in Europe, South America, China, and throughout the United States. Dobrzański was a member of the "Atma" Piano Trio, with Blanka Bednarz (violin) and Cheung Chau (cello). The ensemble, created in 2001, regularly performed in Europe, Asia and the US.

Writings

Dobrzański is the author of the first English language biography of the 19th-century pianist and composer

Maria Szymanowska Maria Szymanowska (Polish pronunciation: ; born Marianna Agata Wołowska; Warsaw, 14 December 1789 – 25 July 1831, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Polish composer and one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. She tour ...

. Other publications (a selection): * 2001: Maria Szymanowska and the Evolution of Professional Pianism * 2002: Maria Szymanowska and Fryderyk Chopin: Parallelism and Influence, Polish Music Journal 5 (1) * 2018: From Paderewski to Penderecki: The Polish Musician in Pennsylvania, The Polish Review 63 (3), 99-101

Teaching

Dobrzański was a member of music faculties at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

. He joined the

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

music faculty in 2005. Currently he is Professor of Music in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he teaches piano performance, chamber music and piano literature. Between 2009 and 2013, he served as the Chair of Keyboard Studies. As a guest teacher, Dobrzański lectured and conducted masterclasses at national conservatories in Peru, Paraguay, Slovakia, and Singapore, as well as at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

, Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador,

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a public Liberal arts education, liberal arts university with a Christian ethics, Christian education heritage in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university was established as Hong Kong Baptist ...

Aletheia University Aletheia University (after Greek ἀλήθεια, 'truth') () is a private university in Tamsui, New Taipei City and Madou, Tainan in Taiwan. It was founded by George Leslie Mackay as Oxford College. It has close links to the Presbyterian Ch ...

and National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan,

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (, UFRGS) is a Brazilian public federal research university based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. UFRGS is among the largest and highest-rated universities in Brazil, having one of the largest nu ...

in Porto Alegre in Brazil, and at

Keimyung University Keimyung University (), abbreviated as KMU or Keimyung, is a private university located in Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea. The university was founded in 1954 with the support of the leaders of the Northern Presbyterian Church of ...

in South Korea. He collaborates with the International Piano Performance Examinations Committee in Taichung, Taiwan.

Discography

Dobrzański has recorded solo and chamber music by

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanow ...

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

Fryderyk Chopin The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the US Grammy and British BRIT Awar ...

Stefan Kisielewski Stefan Kisielewski (7 March 1911 in Warsaw – 27 September 1991 in Warsaw, Poland), nicknames Kisiel, Julia Hołyńska, Teodor Klon, Tomasz Staliński, was a Polish writer, publicist, composer and politician, and one of the members of Znak, one ...

, Artur Malawski (complete piano solo music), Feliks Rybicki,

Carl Tausig Karl Tausig (sometimes "Carl"; born Karol Tausig; 4 November 184117 July 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most distinguished pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time. ...

, and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

for

Polish Radio and Television Committee of Radio and Television "Polish Radio and Television" () (also called as a Radiocomittee - Radiokomitet) was an institution, which managed all stations of Polish Television and Polish Radio in Polish People's Republic (PRL), and in the ear ...

. With the

Acte Préalable Acte Préalable is a Polish classical music record label founded in 1997. The name makes reference to an unfinished mystical composition by Scriabin, ''L'acte préalable'', the 'preconditional' movement to his planned apocalyptic work ''Mysterium ...

label, Dobrzański has released critically acclaimed CD albums of previously unknown piano repertoire by: *

(Complete Piano Works) * Antoine de Kontski (Piano Works) *

Wiktor Łabuński Wiktor Łabuński (April 4, 1895 – January 26, 1974), was a Polish-American pianist, conductor and composer. He came to the United States in 1928, where he made his debut as a pianist at Carnegie Hall. He was head of the piano department of K ...

(Complete Piano Works) *

Károly Aggházy Károly Aggházy (30 October 1855, Budapest – 8 October 1918, Budapest) was a Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer. Aggházy was a pupil of Robert Volkmann, Anton Bruckner, and Franz Liszt. He later taught at the National Conservatory in B ...

- Works for Piano (Sławomir P. Dobrzański) * Felix Labunski - Complete Piano Works

Awards

Dobrzański has won several competitions for young artists such as the MTNA Wurlitzer Collegiate Artist Competition in Spokane, WA (1993, National First Runner-up), the Naftzger Young Artist Competition in Wichita, KS (Grand Prize, and Piano Division Prize, 1993), the Lincoln Symphony Young Artist Competition in Lincoln, NE (First Prize, 1993) and the University of Connecticut Concerto Competition (1998). For his contributions to Polish and Polish-American culture, in 2016 the pianist was honored by the Government of the Republic of Poland with the title " Meritorious for Polish Culture". In 2021, he won "The Outstanding Teacher Award" sponsored by the Kansas Music Teachers Association.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobrzanski, Slawomir Polish classical pianists 1968 births Living people