ABOUT

Cezary Karwowski, born in 1998, began playing the piano at the age of seven. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Kiejstut and Grazyna Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz under Professor Robert Marat, and his graduate studies at Baylor University under Dr. Bradley Bolen. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance degree at the University of Michigan under Dr. Logan Skelton, as well as a Master of Music in Fortepiano Performance degree under Dr. Matthew Bengtson.

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Mr. Karwowski has won a number of prizes at national and international piano competitions and chamber music competitions, including 1st prize at the National MTNA Young Artist Competition (2022), 2nd prize at the 10th Seattle International Piano Competition (2024), 2nd prize at the San Antonio Young Artist Tuesday Musical Club Piano Competition (2024), a special prize for best performance of a Chopin Etude at the 11th Bösendorfer Piano Competition in Arizona (2025), 1st prize and special prizes at the Gloria Artis International Piano Competition in Vienna (2019), 1st prize and special prizes in the 3rd Siberian International Chopin Competition in Tomsk (2016), an honorable mention at the 16th International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles (2021), 1st prizes in national piano competitions for young pianists in Konin, Rybnik, Lodz and Krakow, Poland (2016), 2nd prize in the Central Texas songSLAM in Waco (2023), and honorable mentions in the 20th Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Łódź (2019). Recently, Cezary won the University of Michigan SMTD Concerto Competition; this fall, he will perform Paderewski’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the University Symphony Orchestra in the historic Hill Auditorium. In 2022, he won the Baylor Concerto Competition and the Baylor Semper Pro Musica Solo Competition, leading to a performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with Maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, as well as a solo performance at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.​

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As a concerto soloist Mr. Karwowski has frequently performed with orchestras. In March 2023 he presented Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor with Baylor Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya.  In 2019 he won the Academy of Music in Lodz Concerto Competition and performed with the Academy of Music in Lodz Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Tomasz Bugaj. He has also collaborated with the ,,Polish Camerata’’ orchestra under the baton of Marek Głowacki and performed among others: Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major K. 503, and Chopin’s Rondo a la Krakowiak. During the Piano Festival in Bolzano – Bozen in 2017, Mr. Karwowski won the concerto prize and performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major K. 415 in the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Hall at the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory of Music. 

 

Mr. Karwowski is known for his versatile pianistic career, which features a wide range of artistic and scholarly achievements. Highlights include the "Paderewski. Music of My Home" project - a CD celebrating Poland’s 100 years of independence (2019); a lecture-recital on Francis Poulenc’s solo piano repertoire at KMFA radio in Austin (2022); fellowship of the Smithsonian Beethoven Piano Academy including a participation in a performance of complete Beethoven piano trios on historical instruments at the Smithsonian Museum of American History (2025); a presentation on the performance practice of Chopin’s music at the Forte|Piano Conference at Cornell University (2025). He was also invited by the Chopin Foundation of the United States to give a masterclass and perform at the Chopin for All Festival in Miami (2022). In 2023, Cezary was recognized by the Polish National Ministry of Culture and Heritage for his achievements and received the prestigious “Young Poland” scholarship, which enabled him to purchase his own grand piano

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Mr. Karwowski is a recipient of scholarships of the Prime Minister of Poland and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He has recently been announced one of the recipients of ‘’Młoda Polska’’ (Young Poland) Scholarship that will allow him to buy his own grand piano. For two years in a row, in 2021 and 2022, he received the Roger L. Keyes Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in Piano at the Baylor School of Music.

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Mr. Karwowski is an active performer and has given concerts in Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Austria, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, the United States and in many prestigious venues in Poland, such as the Frederic Chopin Museum in Warsaw or the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

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