Prof. Andrzej Tatarski – One of the most outstanding Polish pianists, chamber musicians, and pedagogues, who has actively shaped the musical landscape for over four decades. He graduated with distinction in piano studies from the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań in 1968, under the guidance of Prof. Olga Iliwicka-Dąbrowska. From 1969 to 1970, as a scholarship holder of the French government, he studied in Paris, refining his piano skills under the renowned artist and pedagogue Prof. Vlado Perlemuter.
He has led an intensive artistic career as a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed across Europe, America, and Asia (including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Cuba, Monaco, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA, Hungary, the UK, and Italy).
He has performed in most of Poland’s major music centers and participated in renowned music festivals, including Poznań Spring Music, Warsaw Autumn, Kraków Composers' Days, Karol Szymanowski Music Days in Zakopane, Polish Piano Music Festival in Słupsk, and the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój.
Prof. Tatarski has been invited to perform recitals at Chopin-related centers such as Żelazowa Wola, Łazienki Królewskie, Szafarnia, Sannik, and Antonin.
In his diverse and extensive solo and chamber music repertoire, Polish music plays a significant role. He has performed many world premieres of works by contemporary Polish composers. He is also engaged in promoting forgotten works.
His musical interests also include French music. He has a particular affinity for the works of the great 20th-century composer Olivier Messiaen. As the first Polish pianist, he performed Messiaen’s cycles “Six Sketches of Birds”, “Catalogue of Birds”, as well as works like “Déchiffrage II” and “Forgotten Victims”.
Prof. Tatarski's repertoire includes 28 piano concertos, which he has presented with the most prominent Polish conductors, such as Andrzej Boreyko, Mirosław Błaszczyk, Tomasz Bugaj, Renard Czajkowski, Agnieszka Duczmal, Jerzy Katlewicz, Witold Krzemieński, Krzysztof Missona, Grzegorz Nowak, Marek Pijarowski, Paweł Przytocki, Wojciech Rajski, Stefan Stuligrosz, and Tadeusz Wojciechowski.
For the Selene label, he has recorded piano compositions by Henryk and Józef Wieniawski, Raoul Koczalski, and Ignacy Friedman; for Dux, he recorded Szymanowski's “Harnasie” in a two-piano version, as well as chamber works by Apolinary Szeluto, marking the first-ever recordings of these works in the history of world phonography.
As a pianist-chamber musician, he has made a number of recordings with the finest Polish artists, including Bartosz Bryła, Joanna Domańska, Michał Grabarczyk, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Joanna Kozłowska, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Piotr Pławner, and Andrzej Wróbel.
Prof. Tatarski has been involved in the jury of numerous national and international piano and chamber music competitions, including the Estrada Młodych, Polish Piano Music Festival in Słupsk, International Piano Competition Görlitz / Zgorzelec, International Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Szafarnia, Ricard Viñes International Piano Competition, Lleida, Spain, the Fryderyk Chopin International Competition in Hong Kong, China, Carl Bechstein Young Pianists’ Competition in Lviv, Ukraine, Chopin Spring International Piano Competition in Łuck, Ukraine, and the International Music Competition for Polish Music by Stanisław Moniuszko in Rzeszów.
He is invited as a lecturer for masterclasses in Poland (including at music schools and universities, Łańcut, Krynica, the International Piano Forum "Bieszczady without Borders" in Sanok) and abroad (Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA, and Italy). For many years, he has been collaborating with music centers in Ukraine – in Lviv and Lutsk.
He taught at the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań from 1968 to 2018. In 1989, he received the title of professor. He served as head of the Department of Chamber Music (1995-1999) and the Department of Piano (1999-2005).
He has been awarded numerous honors, including the Gold Medal "For Merits to Culture – Gloria Artis," the Knight's Cross of the Order of Poland's Rebirth, the Medal of the Commission of National Education, and the Special Award from the Minister of Culture for "invaluable artistic work for national culture."
