Przemysław Witek was born on 3 April 1985 in Wałbrzych. He began his piano studies at the local Stanisław Moniuszko Music School Complex in the piano class of Stella Wesołowska, MA, and later studied under Marek Janusz, MA. From 2001 he trained under Prof. Alicja Kledzik, initially at the H. Wieniawski “School for Talented Children”, and subsequently at the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, from which he graduated with distinction in 2009. He also studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin in the class of Professor Rainer Becker, and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne in the class of Prof. Paulo Alvares. Between 2015 and 2017 Przemysław Witek undertook an artistic residency under the supervision of Prof. Krzysztof Jabłoński at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He has refined his skills in master classes with such distinguished pianists as Viera Nossina, Philippe Entremont, Martin Hughes and Paul Gulda. In 2015 he received his doctoral degree at the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. Today, Przemysław Witek runs a piano class as Assistant Professor in the Piano Department of his alma mater. He also serves as Deputy Director of the Institute of Instrumental Studies.
In the course of his career he has won numerous prizes and distinctions at international piano competitions. [see the full list of awards].
At the age of just nineteen he won First Prize at the International Piano Competition in Rome (2004) and two Special Prizes at the “Artur Rubinstein in memoriam” International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2004). The following years brought him First Prize at the International Piano Competitions in Val Tidone (2005) and Racconigi (2006) in Italy, as well as a Special Prize at the N. Rubinstein International Chamber Music Competition in Moscow (2007). The pinnacle of Przemysław Witek’s competition achievements were the prizes awarded in 2008: First Prize and the Best Virtuoso Award at the Adilia Alieva Competition in Gaillard, France, and First Prize and the Best Polish Pianist Award at the “Halina Czerny-Stefańska in memoriam” International Piano Competition in Poznań.
These exceptional distinctions reinvigorated his concert life and made it possible to record his debut album “Décadence”, released by Polish Radio and Ponte Art Production in February 2011. The album features his recording of Karol Szymanowski’s Sonata in C minor, Op. 8 and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Études-Tableaux, Op. 39.
Przemysław Witek has also made archival recordings of works by Karol Szymanowski for Vatican Radio at the Goethe-Institut in Rome (2004) and at the Palace of Leo XIII in the Vatican (2012). These sessions captured the Preludes, Op. 1 Nos. 1–5, the Variations in B♭ minor, Op. 3, and the Mazurkas, Op. 50 Nos. 13–16.
In 2014 he gave the world premiere and recording of Andrzej Nikodemowicz’s Piano Sonata No. 3 (1958), at a concert recorded by Polish Radio Lublin.
Also in 2014 the artist gave the Polish premiere and made recordings of the piano works of Mieczysław Weinberg. The premiere took place as part of the project “Mieczysław Weinberg — the Unknown Genius”, funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and included performances at the Prokofiev Museum in Moscow, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. The recording of Weinberg’s works formed part of the pianist’s doctoral dissertation and culminated in the release of the album “Mieczysław Weinberg Piano & Chamber Works” in 2017.
In 2016 Przemysław Witek premiered Mikołaj Hertel’s Concerto alla polacca, commissioned for the 50th Jubilee Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk. His collaboration with the composer led to a further premiere of Hertel’s Piano Concerto “The Seer of Lublin”, which took place in 2018 at the Lublin Philharmonic.
Przemysław Witek has appeared as soloist in symphonic concerts in Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Montenegro and Japan. He has performed with the Amadeus Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, the Mozart Virtuoso Orchestra, the Montenegrin National Symphony Orchestra, the Polska Filharmonia Sinfonia Baltica, as well as with the Philharmonic Orchestras of Lower Silesia, Krakow, Koszalin, the Sudety region, Szczecin and the Świętokrzyskie region, and with the Płock Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Agnieszka Duczmal, Marek Pijarowski, Paweł Przytocki, Jacek Rogala, Ruben Silva, Bohdan Jarmołowicz, Przemysław Fiugajski, Paweł Kapuła, Jakub Chrenowicz, Marko Ivanovič, Grigorij Krasko and Mitsuyoshi Oikawa. He has inaugurated the concert seasons of the Mozart Virtuoso Orchestra in Tokyo (2017), the Montenegrin National Philharmonic in Podgorica (2013), the Sudety Philharmonic in Wałbrzych (2010), and performed in the Finals of the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk in 2009.
As a chamber musician he has worked with Benedict Klöckner, Jiří Kabát, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Katarzyna Budnik, Zofia Kulisiewicz, Janusz Wawrowski, Marcin Markowicz and Bartosz Woroch.
He has given recitals in many Polish cities and abroad: in the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Montenegro, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
He held a Prime Minister’s Scholarship (2003), a National Children’s Fund scholarship (2004), and was a three-time scholarship holder of the Mayor of Wałbrzych (2005, 2006, 2007), as well as a four-time scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Przemysław Witek received the Marshal of the Wielkopolska Region Scholarship in the Field of Culture (2009), the Artistic Scholarship of the City of Poznań (2012) and a DAAD scholarship (2009). He is a laureate of the Wałbrzych County Mayor’s Award for achievements in artistic creativity (2011). He has been awarded the “Meritorious for Polish Culture” honorary badge (2017) and the Bronze Cross of Merit (2019). He is the Ambassador of the Dopiewo Commune (2022), where he currently lives.