Bartłomiej Wezner

Bartłomiej Wezner is one of the most versatile pianists of his generation: a soloist, a chamber music instrumentalist, a teacher, and a promoter of culture. 

Mr. Wezner is the winner of a number of international chamber music competitions: St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition (2011, London – 1st prize), 16 Premio Trio di Trieste (2015, Triest – 3rd prize), Academie de Musique de Lausanne (2015, Lausanne – laureate), the 50th International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch (2014, Holland – laureate of the Lied Duo category) as well as the 17th International Kiejstut Bacewicz Chamber Music Competition in Łódź (2010 – 3rd prize). He won the best pianist awards at the vocal competitions in Warsaw (2007), Katowice (2008), Łódź (2009), Sopot (2010), and Częstochowa (2013). As a soloist, he won the Special Prize at 6th International I.J. Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2004) as well as an Honorary Mention at the 15th International L. Janáček Piano Competition in Brno (2008, Czech Republic). 

Born in Nysa in 1981, he graduated from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the class of the piano taught by Professor Ewa Pobłocka (2006). In the years 2002–2004 he also studied under Professor Jerzy Sulikowski. At the same time he learned the harpsichord with Professor Urszula Bartkiewicz. In 2013 he completed his doctoral studies with the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, and, in 2019 habilitation. In 2020, started working at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz as a Professor as well as the dean of the Faculty of Piano Chamber Music. 

Bartłomiej Wezner’s performing aesthetics has been influenced by master classes taught by such world-renowned artists as Maestro Janoš Starker, Stephen Kovacevich, Raphaël Pidoux (Wanderer Trio), Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartet), Jean Paul Trio, Niklas Schmidt (Trio Fontenay), Clive Brown, Ewa Podleś, Urszula Kryger, Kevin Kenner, Maja Nosowska, Marcin Sikorski. He has performed with outstanding musicians: Vadim Brodski, Paweł Zalejski, Maria Machowska, Joanna Kreft, Jakub Jakowicz, Artur Rozmysłowicz, Magdalen Bojanowicz, Agata Schmidt, Ingrida Gápova, Anna Wilk, Ewa Leszczyńska. 

He is the pianist and the founder of the following ensembles: BMF Piano Trio, Herbert Piano Trio, Surrealistic Five. Together with his father and his siblings they form a unique family quartet Wezner Ensemble. He has played in Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Sweden, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Montenegro, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy and the United States. As a soloist he has per- formed with Capella Bydgostiensis, the Toruń Symphony Orchestra, the Opole Philharmonic, the Lviv National Chamber Orchestra Akademia and the Bydgoszcz Philharmonics, among others. 

In the past, he was the piano tutor at the Maestra Teresa Żylis-Gara Vocal Masterclass in the Radziejowice Palace (2008), Young Singers of Małopolska workshops ran by Professors Helena Łazarska and Zofia Kilanowicz in Nowy Sącz (2012), Thomas Hampson’s Masterclass at the Gorzów Philharmonic (2014) as well as the official pianist of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th International Ada Sari Vocal Art Competition in Nowy Sącz (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019), the 9th International Stanislaw Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw (2016), International Karol Szymanowski Competition in Katowice (2018) and 4th International Karol Lipinski Violin Competition in Toruń (2019). 

Mr. Wezner has been the recipient of the following scholarships from the following institutions: the Piano Texas Festival and Academy in Fort Worth (2006, USA), the International Dartington Summer School (2012, Great Britain), the Beethoven Haus in Bonn (2015, Germany) as well as the Marshall of the Kuyavyan-Pomeranian region (2011, 2012, 2017, 2020) and the Minister of Culture’s and National Heritage’s Young Poland scholarship (2012) and artistic scholarship (2021). He is also laureate of the Marshall of the Kuyavyan-Pomeranian Region Award in the field of Culture (2022) and the Artistic Award of President City of Bydgoszcz (2023). 

The pianist is equally adept at the classical repertoire as well as the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has performed at world premier performances and recordings of compositions by Hanna Kulenty, Zbigniew Bargielski, Roxanna Panufnik, Marcin Masecki, Rafał Janiak, Michał Dobrzyński, Zygmunt Mycielski among others. Mr. Wezner’s concerts have been broadcast by „Dwójka” Polish Radio and RTS Suiss, among others. He has recorded for CdAccord, Dux, Sagittaria and Acte Préalable record labels.