performers (H)

pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator; b. 21st May 1970 in Bydgoszcz. He studied piano with Jerzy Sulikowski and Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, graduating in 1993. He spent the next 3 years lecturing at his alma mater. He has taken up teaching in Bydgoszcz again in 2010. Currently, he works as an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Jazz, Conducting and Music Education.

As a pianist, he has performed with orchestras (Gershwin's Blue Rhapsody, Grieg's Concerto in A Minor), recorded chamber music for the Bayerische Rundfunk (Munich), played concerts of chamber music with clarinetist Wojtek Mrozek, world-famous violinist Vadim Brodski, and flutist Jadwiga Kotnowska. He has also collaborated with Yehudi Menuhin's foundation "Live Music Now" operating in Germany.

He belongs to the group of artists who have managed to function successfully on the classical, jazz and pop market. He has collaborated with all of Poland's top popular singers as well as opera singers, including Aleksandra Kurzak, Małgorzata Walewska, Olga Pasiecznik, Ewa Małas-Godlewska and Andrzej Lampert.

In the early 1990s he collaborated with Jacek Pelc's City Jazz Trio, Janusz Muniak's quartet, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski's quartet, Kazimierz Jonkisz's quartet, Mariusz Bogdanowicz's Back To The Bass, Eryk Kulma's Quintessence, Wojciech Staroniewicz's quartet, Michał Kulenty's quartet, Cezary Konrad's quartet, and Loud Jazz Band. He also worked with Ewa Bem, Lora Szafran, Anna Maria Jopek, Danuta Błażejczyk, Anna Serafińska, Dorota Miśkiewicz, and Agnieszka Hekiert. In 1996-2001 he played in Zbigniew Namysłowski's band. Herdzin has performed with the world's best jazz musicians: Maria Schneider, Gregoire Maret, Richard Bona, Gil Goldstei, Oscar Castro Neves, Mino Cinelu, Dhafer Youssef, Gary Husband, Yami, Jon Lord, Clarence Penn. Currently he leads his own Trio, Big Band, performs solo, collaborates on regular basis with Anna Maria Jopek, and participates in various projects.

He has played jazz and chamber music in Mexico, the USA, Turkey, Canada, India, China, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Austria, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine. He appeared four times at the Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw (Made in Poland by J. Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Back To The Bass by M. Bogdanowicz, Quintet by Z. Namysłowski, Seriale Seriale).

He has conducted over 40 orchestras in Poland and abroad, including Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, National Orchestra of Belgium, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, "Wirtuzoi Lwowa" Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, NOSPR, Polish Radio Orchestra, Sinfonia Iuventus, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Capella Bydgostiensis, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Sinfonia Viva, Concerto Avenna, Ricordanza, L'Autunno, Sinfonia Artis, as well as many Polish philharmonic and theatre orchestras.

Krzysztof Herdzin is also a composer. He wrote several songs, jazz themes, film scores, and music for TV ads (AIG, Hochland, TVN Foundation). He composed Poland's first official "musical logo" for the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province. His contemporary works were commissioned by the Polish Composers' Union and the Institute of Music and Dance and performed at such festivals as the 3rd Festival of Premieres "Polish Modern Music" in Katowice, 2nd "Kwartesencja" Festival in Warsaw, 4th Katowice Days of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, 49th Music Festival in Łańcut, 3rd "Music at the Source" Festival in Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk Music Festival, International Wind Instrument Festival in Szczecinek, "Sacrum et Musica" Festival in Ostrołęka, 8th Michał Spisak International Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza, "Media and Art" Festival in Darłowo, 3rd Ursynów Festival of Chamber and Organ Music in Warsaw, 29th Warsaw Music Encounters, 22nd "Contrasts" Festival in Lviv.

He arranged and orchestrated Jan A. P. Kaczmarek’s music for Finding Neverland, which won an Oscar in 2005. He has also collaborated with such film music composers as Stanisław Syrewicz, Henri Seroka, Robert Janson, Tomasz Gąssowski and Adam Skorupa. He has taken part in many television productions for both public and private television stations in Poland. In 2006-2008 he hosted his own programme "Kalambury z Partytury" at Radio Jazz. In 2019, he returned with his radio show at the Polish Radio Channel 2. Since 2015, he has been the artistic supervisor of the "Good Jazz Evening" concert series on the NOVA Stage of the ROMA Musical Theater.

Krzysztof Herdzin has recorded 20 CD as a leader, and as a pianist, conductor, composer, and arranger he has been involved in recording of over 200 CDs. As a producer and arranger he has recevied 18 Gold Records and 3 Platinum Records. He is the first Polish composer who has collborated with the Decca Records in London. In 2014 he rcorded the monographic album Suite On Polish Themes with one of the world's most famous orchestras – the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in the famous Studio One Abbey Road.

Krzysztof Herdzin is an award-winning artist. He won the 3rd prize at the International Jazz Improvisation Competition in Katowice (1994). In 2012 he received the "Fryderyk" award in the "Best Jazz Composer/Arranger of the Year" category. He has been repeatedly named the "Arranger of the Year" (2010-2017, 2019) and "Composer of the Year" (2012), according to the Jazz Top ranking of the "Jazz Forum" magazine. He was awarded the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture "Gloria Artis" (2015) and the Medal of Jerzy Sulima-Kamiński (2018).

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