Ten years after winning the XV International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2005, Rafał Blechacz gained the standing of a truly world-class artist. His exceptional talent has been acclaimed by audiences across Europe, the Americas and Asia, by music critics, eminent conductors and leading symphony orchestras, record producers, managers and concert agencies presenting him in the most renowned halls and musical centres.

The past decade of his career has been a time of solo recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras, above all of intensive work at the piano on an ever-expanding repertoire. Awarded the Grand Prix, the Gold Medal and all possible competition prizes — for the best performance of mazurkas, polonaise, concerto and sonata (the latter funded by Krystian Zimerman), as well as the audience prize — he has been recognised as the finest interpreter of Chopin’s music of his generation. International audiences have sought to hear and know him in this role; he has never disappointed them, winning their sympathy and esteem. The title of Winner of the Chopin Competition carries weight and meaning everywhere, and the young artist has undertaken numerous and distant concert tours. Everyone wishes to hear and experience the talent of someone who, in intensely difficult competition before a distinguished jury, proved the best. The young Polish pianist clearly prevailed over the large and strong field of rivals, as always in Warsaw. Emphasising the scale of his talent, the jury awarded no second prize, only third and subsequent places.

His work on repertoire naturally centres on Chopin, yet an artist of this stature also performs other composers. He has continually expanded his repertoire with works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy and Szymanowski, choosing programmes for successive albums (now five in number) recorded and released by Deutsche Grammophon.

A powerful and telling culmination of the last decade of Rafał Blechacz’s artistic activity is the American Gilmore Artist Award, presented in January 2014 and sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of piano”.

Rafał Blechacz was born in 1985 in Nakło nad Notecią. He began piano studies at the age of five. He studied at the Artur Rubinstein State Music School in Bydgoszcz with Professor Jacek Polański, and in 2007 completed his piano diploma at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the class of Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. As a student he won many awards and distinctions, including First Prize and Grand Prix at the 13th National J.S. Bach Competition in Gorzów Wielkopolski (1996), Second Prize at the 5th International Young Pianists’ Competition “Artur Rubinstein in memoriam” in Bydgoszcz (2002), and victory at the 5th International Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan (2003).

As winner of the Grand Prix of the Chopin Competition he began appearing in the most prestigious halls, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Herkulessaal in Munich, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Tonhalle in Zurich and La Scala in Milan. He is invited to leading festivals such as Salzburg, Verbier in Switzerland, La Roque-d’Anthéron in France, Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany and the Gilmore Festival in the USA. He performs with many symphony orchestras, working with conductors including Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Pavo Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Victor Pablo Pérez, Trevor Pinnock, Mikhail Pletnev, Jerzy Semkow, Antoni Wit and David Zinman.

In 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon — the second Polish artist on the label after Krystian Zimerman. His first album of Chopin Preludes appeared in 2007. In Poland it achieved platinum status within two weeks of release and was honoured with the German Echo Klassik and French Diapason d’or awards. A further album of sonatas by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven was released the following year to equal acclaim. After the success of his first two albums, the artist marked Chopin Year 2010 with recordings of both Chopin piano concertos with the legendary Concertgebouw Orchestra under Jerzy Semkow — named the world’s finest orchestra by Gramophone in 2009. This third album received the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik from critics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and quickly achieved double platinum status in Poland. His recording of Debussy and Szymanowski gained wide international acclaim for repertoire choice and interpretation. In 2012 the Deutsche Phono Akademie awarded him Echo Klassik for “Best Solo Album” (19th and 20th century music). The recording was Album of the Month in Gramophone and received the Polish Fryderyk for best classical album (2013). In autumn 2013 Rafał Blechacz returned to Chopin’s repertoire, recording his seven great polonaises — a gold album on the day of release, and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for best piano album (2013).

For his artistic activity to date, in July 2010 he received the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Siena), awarded by an international jury of music critics. In January 2014 in New York he was named Gilmore Artist 2014, one of the highest honours in the piano world, awarded every four years with financial support for the artist’s future career.

On 24 February 2015, during a concert at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of the Republic of Poland.