dr Justyna Piękoś-Kędzierska
Justyna Maria Etsuko Piękoś – born on November 5th, 1982 in Cologne, Germany. Plays three instruments: piano, violin and viola, and also composes. She started to play the piano when she was three years old, under the guidance of her mother Tokiko Ishibashi – Piękoś, and continued it later with her father Wiesław Piękoś; she started to study the piano with him in 2002 at Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf. In 2006, she completed her first piano course, the piano pedagogy, with very good result. A year later, she completed her second course, in piano mastery, also with very good result. She also completed her post-graduate course in piano mastery, the so-called „Konzertexamen“ under the guidance of her father (2011), with excellent result.
In 2015 she obtained doctor degree on dissertation “Between tradition and the avant garde: Krzysztof Meyer’s 24 Preludes for piano Op. 43. A catalogue of expressive and textural models, and composing techniques based on own interpretation of the piece”.
Since she was eight years old, she has been giving public performances in numerous German, Polish, Italian, English and Spanish cities, as a pianist, violinist, violist, member of a string-quartett and composer. She is the winner of many awards in piano, strings and chamber music competitions in Germany. Many interviews and concerts of Justyna Piękoś were recorded and broadcast by Polish and international TV channels. She participated in numerous Piano Master Courses in Cracow, initiated and managed by Prof. Wiesław Piękoś (1992-2013).
In addition to her career as a soloist (recitals), she played at renowned music festivals such as International Karol Szymanowski Festival in Zakopane, Gala Chopin Concerto at Steinway – Hall, Düsseldorf, organised on the occasion of the International Chopin Year 2000, Mozart Festival in Düsseldorf, International Music Festival Endenicher Herbst in Bonn – Endenich and International Piano Festival “Ruhr Klavierfestival” in Essen.
As a pianist and violinist she played at a concert commemorating the Year of Karol Szymanowski, at the Gala Concert of the 2nd and 3rd Congress of Polonia Intellectuals, Artists and Scientists in Barcelona and Munich. She also participated in a charity concerts, for example for children – victims of Chernobyl, arranged by Rotary Club of Dormagen.
As a composer, she co-created music for a number of large projects including opera Ein falsches Märchen (The False Fairy-Tale), musical theatre Harry´s Revue (based on poetry by Heinrich Heine) and oratory Selma; some of the pieces composed by Justyna Piękoś for the oratory were recorded and broadcast by WDR 3. In 2010 she was artistic director of the International Piano Festival Chopin jenseits aller Grenzen in Cologne. She received gratitude letter from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, for propagation of Frederic Chopin’s music in the world.
2009-2013 she taught the piano at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Currently she works at the Music Academy in Cracow (Instrumental Department, Chair of Contemporary Music, Jazz and Percussion) as well as Secondary F. Chopin Music School and Primary St. Wiechowicz Music School in Cracow.