graduated from the the percussion class of Edward Iwicki at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Since 1993, he has been a soloist of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, with which he has performed in the world’s most prestigious concert halls under the direction of the leading conductors, performing a rich symphonic and chamber music repertoire. He has played under the baton of such celebrities as Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, and Krzysztof Penderecki. He has also recorded over 200 albums with the orchestra. He has been president of the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation since 2007.

For many years he was a teacher in the percussion class and artistic supervisor of the big band in the Karol Szymanowski State Music School Complex no. 4 in Warsaw. In 2007 he founded the Szymanowski Big Band, with which he achieved spectacular artistic success, including recordings for CD Accord, Sony Music Poland, and EMI. In 2012 he set up a new ensemble: the Szymanowski Young Power Big Band. 

In 2012 he became a lecturer at the percussion class at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and took over the artistic direction of the University’s big band, which evolved into the current Chopin University Big Band formation. Since 2019, Kostrzewa has served as dean of the newly established Faculty of Jazz and Entertainment Music at the Fryderyk Chopin University, where he also became a professor in 2022.