Krzysztof Herdzin
Pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and music producer, born in Bydgoszcz, where he graduated from Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń’s piano class at the Felix Nowowiejski Academy of Music.
Boasting a rich output and known for his broad artistic horizons, Herdzin works in the fields of classical, popular, and jazz music. He has played with the greatest masters of Polish jazz and stars of Polish song, performed in Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski’s and Zbigniew Namysłowski’s quartets, in a duo with Edytą Geppert, and closely collaborated with Anna Maria Jopek as pianist and arranger. At present he plays in a trio with Robert Kubiszyn and Cezary Konrad as well as being the leader of his own Krzysztof Herdzin Big Band.
Apart from jazz arrangements of classical pieces he has orchestrated film soundtracks, for instance Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s music for Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland. He has been the music director and author of musicals (Cyrano) as well as the composer of Fryderyk-nominated contemporary music CDs: Symphonicum, Suite on Polish Themes, Concerto & Concertino.
His vast discography comprise more than 200 albums, including 20 released under his own name. Many of them became gold and platinum discs. He has also produced several dozen CDs by such Polish singers as Irena Santor, Maryla Rodowicz, Edyta Geppert, Katarzyna Groniec, Anna Serafińska, Olga Bończyk, and Wojciech Gąssowski.
He has conducted well-known Polish ensembles and philharmonic orchestras, as well as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Orchestre National de Belgique, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, and ‘Lviv Virtuosi’ Chamber Orchestra.
The artist’s numerous accolades include the Mateusz Święcicki Music Award of Polish Radio Channel 3 (‘Mateusz’), RMF Classsic MocArt Awards, and the Fryderyk Award of the Polish Phonographic Academy, as well as the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2015).
Phot. Kuba Majerczyk