dr Aleksander Mocek – harpsichord
Aleksander Mocek developed his passion for historical keyboard instruments during studies with Professors Magdalena Myczka in Kraków and Robert Hill in Freiburg im Breisgau. Recipient of the European Union Baroque Orchestra Development Trust prize “for the most promising harpsichordist” (2014), the Baerenreiter–Urtext Prize (2014), and the Audience Prize for the finalist (2018) at the 17th and 19th International Bach Competitions in Leipzig (Germany). As well as a doctorate in early music performance (2019) prepared under the supervision of Prof. Myczka, he holds lower degrees in harpsichord, piano (class of Prof. Andrzej Pikul), and theory of music. He participated in harpsichord masterclasses led by Mitzi Meyerson and Christophe Rousset (Montisi, Italy).
As a soloist and chamber musician he has appeared with ensembles such as Capella Cracoviensis, Capella Regia Polona (Polish Royal Opera), and {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna. Furthermore, he participated in original productions such as dance spectacles „Johannes-Passion-in-Berliner-Dom” with Berliner Symphoniker or Red-Bull-Flying-Bach break-dance shows in Asia. In 2019, on a Pleyel harpsichord, he gave Jean Françaix’s Harpsichord Concerto its Polish premiere.
Devoted to mixing practice with theory, he regularly publishes articles and essays, and occasionally presents papers at international conferences (notably – at the universities in Cambridge, Cologne, Warsaw, and Cracow.) Prepared reconstructions of missing part-books from the repertoire of 17th-century Polish polyphony, subsequently released under the Dux label. In accordance with his interest in historical composition techniques, besides teaching harpsichord and basso continuo, he lectures classes on counterpoint and practical harmony. As a form of leisure pursuit, he tracks and collects books on early music, his personal library on the topic reaching (as of early 2020) almost fifteen hundreds in number, with some of the items having already become antiquarian’s delights.
Aleksander has been awarded scholarships from the Polish Ministries—of Education, Culture, and Science, as well as numerous further awards including a “Young Poland” grant towards purchasing a harpsichord.
In 2020, with a recital comprising the Art of Fugue, he inaugurates a personal project of performing the complete keyboard works of J.S. Bach in the foreseeable future.