Pękala, Miłosz International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn

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graduated in percussion from the Chopin Academy of Music in  Warsaw. He also studied with Gert Mortensen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He obtained his PhD in  2014 and habilitation in 2019.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in prestigious concerts and festivals of classical, contemporary, popular, and ethnic music. He specialises in vibraphone playing,  multipercussion, and Latin American instruments. In his own  projects, he puts particular emphasis on new technologies and  interdisciplinarity.

He has won prizes at numerous competitions, both as a soloist and chamber musician, including the 2nd Mikołaj Stasiniewicz International Percussion Competition in Warsaw (2014;  1st Prize and Lech Kaczyński Prize awarded by the Mayor of  Warsaw), International Percussion Duo Competition in Luxembourg (finalist, 2008), International Percussion Competition in  Fermo (1st Prize in the vibraphone category, 2009), and Universal  Marimba Competition in Belgium (3rd Prize and Special Award  in the marimba duos category, 2013).

Albums with his contributions: Kwadrofonik’s Folklove (Polish  Radio, 2008) and Folk Requiem (Polish Radio / National Audiovisual Institute, 2015) were awarded as best folk music albums.  1976: A Space Odyssey (Lado ABC / Polish Radio / National Audiovisual Institute, 2015), recorded in cooperation with Zbigniew  Wodecki and the Mitch&Mitch ensemble, was a double platinum record and received a Fryderyk Award for the pop album of  the year. In 2015, together with Kwadrofonik quartet, he received  the Passport Award of the Polityka weekly in classical music.

His output also includes achievements in the field of composition.  His compositions can be found on recordings notably by Kwadrofonik quartet and the percussion duo Pękala Kordylasińska  Pękala. With Bartłomiej Wąsik, commissioned by the Malta Festival, he composed the multimedia show Xenophony. Symphony for  the Other (2016), directed by Jan Komasa. In 2019, commissioned  by the Polish Radio Theatre, he wrote the music for Sławomir  Mrożek’s radio play Garbus, directed by Jerzy Schejbal. As a composer, he cooperated with Lena Frankiewicz on the productions  Puste Miejsca (Wybrzeże Theatre, 2024), Feblik (National Theatre, 2024), and Pippi Langstrump (Maska Theatre, 2025). In 2019,  his composition Radio for Vibraphone for vibraphone and tape  was awarded the 2nd Prize at the 1st International Composition  Competition Peles in Portugal. In the same year, the work Noise  Study was featured on the album Birthday Party, dedicated to  Włodzimierz Kotoński.  He has recorded three solo albums: Monopercussion (Bôłt, 2018),  Monopercussion 2 (Bôłt Records, 2021), and 8 Pieces in Different  Tempos (Gustaff Records, 2021).  Currently he lectures at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and is the artistic director of Hob-beats Percussion Group,  member of Mitch&Mitch, Pękala Kordylasińska Pękala, MIR, and  Chain Ensemble, as well as a participant of numerous local and  international artistic events.