Piotr "Pianohooligan" Orzechowski / Poland

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A rebellious visionary and enfant terrible of the Polish music scene, the artist brilliantly combines (at times deconstructing) motifs of classical, contemporary and jazz music, as well as folk inspirations.

Piotr “Pianohooligan” Orzechowski, born in Kraków in 1990, is a pianist, composer, graduate of the Berklee College of Music and one of the most acclaimed young Polish jazz musicians. He is the winner of numerous awards, including the 1st prize at the Montreux Jazz Solo Piano Competition in 2011; he was the first Polish musician to win this legendary Swiss festival. He also leads the acclaimed High Definition Quartet; together they have won several international competitions, as well as recording the critically- acclaimed album “Hopasa”. He has recorded “Experiment: Penderecki” for the famous Decca label, presenting his interpretations of works by this outstanding Polish composer.

Together with Marcin Masecki and Capella Cracoviensis, he has also recorded “Bach Rewrite” – as the title suggests, the album is an original interpretation of Bach’s compositions.

Orzechowski’s latest project is “15 Studies for the Oberek”. The “Studies”, also immortalised as a successful album, is a collection of short musical sketches dedicated to individual features of the oberek dance, recalling the style of piano miniatures. They are an attempt to find universal features of folk music and confront them with the language of contemporary music.

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The concert took place in 2015.