Rafał Blechacz

Pianist Rafał Blechacz was trained exclusively in Poland. He was celebrated during the first part of his career for winning competitions, including all five prizes in the 2005 Frédéric Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the 2014 Gilmore Artist Award. In the middle 2010s, Blechacz slowed his recording career and continued his studies in musical aesthetics and his interest in the writings of philosopher Leszek Kolakowski. He continued his focus on Chopin with an album of polonaises in 2013 but then took a four-year hiatus, re-emerging with an acclaimed all-Bach release in 2017. Several of his album releases have achieved gold record status in Poland. In 2023, he issued the album Chopin, an album that featured the composer's second and third piano sonatas.