Adam Harasiewicz

Biography

Adam Harasiewicz studied with Zbigniew Drzewiecki at the State College of Music in Cracow (1950–1956). He won the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1955) and received the Harriet Cohen Foundation medal for outstanding pianistic achievements (1957) and the gold medal of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Foundation in New York (1960).

Following his triumph in the Chopin Competition, he embarked on a career as a virtuoso, performing with outstanding conductors and orchestras in the most prestigious concert halls, including a tour of Japan, the gala concert of the World Exposition in Brussels (1958) and the inauguration of Chopin Year at the UN headquarters (1960).

His discography is dominated by Chopin: fourteen LPs for Phillips (1958–1974), the F minor Concerto for Polskie Nagrania ‘Muza’ (1979), the Sonata in B-flat minor, Ballade in A-flat major, Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1, Scherzo in E major, 3 Mazurkas from Op. 63 and Polonaise in A-flat major for Koch (1992), and the complete Mazurkas and also the Sonata in B minor, selected Nocturnes, the Ballade in A-flat major and the Scherzo in C-sharp minor for the NIFC (2012).

He has sat on the jury of international piano competitions, including in Bolzano (1984), Saragossa (1987), Terni (1989), Warsaw (Chopin Competition, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010) and Bydgoszcz (the ‘Arthur Rubinstein in memoriam’ International Competition for Young Pianists, 2014, chair).

Photo: © Sławomir Bergański

Source: chopincompetition2015.com