Piotr Kostrzewa - percussion - (Sinfonia Varsovia)
For nearly 30 years a member of the famous Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, Piotr Kostrzewa has performed on the most prestigious stages of the globe and collaborated with the world's top conductors and soloists. He is also a well-known and respected educator. He teaches young percussionists at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he is the Dean of the Faculty of Jazz and Stage Music.
Born in 1966 in Warsaw and associated with the Polish capital for all his life. Artist – musician – percussionist, already as a student he collaborated with the orchestras of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw and the Grand Theater. Since 1993, he plays the kettledrums as a member of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, with which he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Theater de Champs-Elysees, Barbician Center, Teatro Colon, Sidney Opera, Suntory Hall, playing both symphonic and chamber works. He performed alongside such outstanding musicians as: Yehudi Menuhin, Witold Lutosławski, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jan Krenz, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Grzegorz Nowak, Lorin Maazel, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jean Pierre Rampal, Mścisław Rostropowicz, Valery Giergiev, Marc Minkowski, Charles Dutoit, Jerzy Semkow , Martha Argerich, James Galway, Nigel Kennedy, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nelson Freire, Shlomo Mintz.
Together with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, he has recorded over 200 albums for world’s leading record labels, such as Decca, Deutsche Gramofon, EMI, Sony, including the complete symphonies by Beethoven and Schubert, overtures by Rossini and Mozart conducted by Lord Yehudi Menuhin. He has also collaborated as an entertainment drummer with famous Polish artists: Ryszard Rynkowski, Piotr Rubik, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Zygmunt Kukla, Janusz Stokłosa, Krzesimir Dębski, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Halina Frąckowiak.
In 2017, together with Piotr Domański, he performed Fantasia for two timpanists by Philipe Glass during the Journée Folle de la Musique Festival, and then in Japan, Russia and Poland.
Since 2000, he has been the president of the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation, and since 2019 he has been the Dean of the newly established Jazz and Stage Music Department at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
Together with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, he has recorded over 200 albums for world’s leading record labels, such as Decca, Deutsche Gramofon, EMI, Sony, including the complete symphonies by Beethoven and Schubert, overtures by Rossini and Mozart conducted by Lord Yehudi Menuhin. He has also collaborated as an entertainment drummer with famous Polish artists: Ryszard Rynkowski, Piotr Rubik, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Zygmunt Kukla, Janusz Stokłosa, Krzesimir Dębski, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Halina Frąckowiak.
In 2017, together with Piotr Domański, he performed Fantasia for two timpanists by Philipe Glass during the Journée Folle de la Musique Festival, and then in Japan, Russia and Poland.
Since 2000, he has been the president of the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation, and since 2019 he has been the Dean of the newly established Jazz and Stage Music Department at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
