Biography

 

Krzysztof Jablonski is a Laureate of the F. Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1985. He has won numerous top prizes at international piano competitions in Milan, Palm Beach, Monza, Dublin, New York, and Calgary, and a Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv.

For more than 30 years, Jablonski has been active in performing solo and chamber music as well as with orchestras on stages in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Israel in prestigious concert halls, including appearances on the Master Concert Series at Berliner Philharmonie. A frequent guest of many orchestras, performed under the baton of V. Gergiev, A. Boreyko, K. Penderecki, M. Pijarowski, J. Semkow, J. Kaspszyk, J. Maksymiuk, G. Nowak, F. Brueggen, W. Bothe, Y. Tezuka, T. Shimono, A. Wit, J. Krenz and with prominent ensembles such as Orchestra of the 18th Century, Berner Symphonie-Orchester, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Duesseldorfer Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker, Jenaer Philharmonie, Festival Orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival, Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Kirishima Festival Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. As a chamber music recitalist, he performed with Tomasz Strahl, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Arto Noras, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, and Teng Li - to name just a few. He is a “Warsaw Piano Quintet” member, founded by W. Szpilman in 1962.

Jablonski’s somewhat romantic nature shaped his taste and interest in music. Besides the most famous works Jablonski has in his repertoire, he also plays some less-known compositions such as Concertos by F. Riess, H. Litolff, and E. Dohnanyi. He was invited to perform for ballet, opera, theatre spectacles, and spectacular, multi-discipline projects with multimedia presentations and lights, such as Scriabin's "Prometheus" with Duesseldorfer Symphoniker. A special place in his career has many collaborations with ballets: “Chopin - The Romantic Artist” choreographed by Patrice Bart, Ballet “Fortepianissimo” choreographed by Lorca Massine, “The Lady of the Camellias” choreographed by John Neumeier and “Our Chopin” choreographed by Liam Scarlett and Krzysztof Pastor at the National Opera in Warsaw. They were shown to the public multiple times; some were even played outside of Poland. Jablonski also performed the original piano version of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande. He was invited to perform during the opening of the Wiener Opernball in Vienna together with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, choreographed by Giorgio Madia. He played for a crowd of twelve thousand with the Grant Park Orchestra and K. Urbanski at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago.

In February 2013, Jablonski performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto with Maestro Valery Gergiev and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra during the fundraising event “Clean Baltic Sea Concert” in Helsinki. This performance was streamed live over the Internet and recorded by Finnish Radio and TV.

2013 also brought Jablonski to Japan, where he performed Beethoven's Concerto with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra following his successful appearances with the Kirishima Festival Orchestra in 2012. In 2014, he played during the Kirishima Festival again. In 2015,  celebrating 30 years of his artistic career, he performed Chopin’s Concerto No. 1 with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra - the same Piano Concerto he played during the Finals of the F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1985, where his international career began. Also, in 2015, he performed Chopin’s E minor Concerto once more with the Warsaw Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Jacek Kaspszyk. Jablonski concluded his anniversary year performing Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto in G minor with Warsaw Philharmonic under the direction of Patrick Fournillier in February 2016.

He has made live recordings for radio and television in many countries and numerous CDs in Germany, Japan, and Poland. The F. Chopin National Institute invited him to record complete works by Chopin both on modern and historical pianos. Two first CDs (Etudes) were released in 2016 and 2017, and more will come soon. Jablonski himself says it is his once-in-a-lifetime project, but he hopes to be able to complete this work in a few years.

Studied with Janina Butor and Prof. Andrzej Jasiński, he has worked during master classes with R. Kerer and N. Magaloff. He graduated with honors in 1987 from the Academy of Music in Katowice and later earned his Doctorate in 1996. He was a tenured professor at The F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw from 2004 to 2017 and a piano faculty member at the Mount Royal University - The Conservatory in Calgary and the University of Calgary. He has been a Morningside Music Bridge Program faculty member since 1998. He was also a Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lethbridge from 2016 to 2017. In addition to academic responsibilities, he presents master classes and lectures. He has delivered seminars for piano teachers. Jablonski specializes in piano technique, helping many people achieve better results.

He is a jury member at international piano competitions, including Chopin Piano Competitions in Warsaw, Toronto/Mississauga (Chair of the Jury), Miami, Tokyo, and Foshan in China. He was recently on the Jury of the Lang Lang Shenzhen Futian International Piano Festival Competition, the 3rd International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszów, Poland (Chair of the Jury), the 5th China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition, the 12th Gulangyu Piano Art Week Competition, 2023 ZJCM & DEQING International Piano Festival Competition, and RNCM James Mottram International Piano Competition.

Jablonski is the Head of Piano and keyboard and Academic Leader of Piano and keyboard at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He performed with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in January 2023 during the final GBA Festival concert and during the 2023 Belt and Road International Music Festival opening concert in September 2023.