Rafał Kwiatkowski

The cellist is a laureate of Paszporty Polityki, 4 Fryderyk Awards, the Magna cum Laude medal, and the Polish Culture Foundation Award.

Winner of many competitions in Poland and the USA, his international career has been sealed by winning First Prizes at the International Music Competitions in Viña del Mar (Chile), Ljubljana, Leipzig, Kuhmo (Finland), and New York, and the Second Prize at the Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki.

Foreign tours have taken him to many European countries, both Americas, Africa, and Asia where – during a concert tour in Japan – he gave a recital in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Since his 1999 recital début at New York’s Y Hall and chamber Carnegie Hall, the artist has toured the USA several times. Kwiatkowski performed at many prestigious Polish and foreign festivals.

Rafał Kwiatkowski appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Bogota, Santiago, Los Angeles, Moscow, Astana, Helsinki, Budapest, Palermo and Munich Philharmonic, as well as with leading Polish orchestras including Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonietta Cracovia, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2001, Rafał Kwiatkowski performed in Berlin, playing Krzysztof Penderecki’s Viola Concerto under the composer’s baton and later took part in the Polish premiere of his Concerto Grosso. Since then, the cellist has been regularly invited by Penderecki not only to perform his works around the world, but also to record them on CDs.

Besides his solo activities, Rafał Kwiatkowski is pleased to perform chamber music and has cooperated with most of the greatest Polish artist, as well as M. Vengerov, Ch. Eschenbach, K. Kenner, and K. Zimerman with whom he gave a series of concerts, crowned by releasing a CD on Deutsche Grammophon label. He gave many concerts in a trio with Vadim Brodski and Waldemar Malicki.

The artist became a member of the Warsaw Quintet, reactivated by violist Stefan Kamasa, who many years earlier co-founded the world-famous ensemble with pianist Władysław Szpilman. He established the Fourtune Quartet with the great Polish flutist Łukasz Długosz, and performed as a guest cellist of Meccore String Quartet and Szymanowski String Quartet. In 2017, the cellist joined the Camerata String Quartet.

Rafał Kwiatkowski has also experienced quite a different dimension of chamber music, performing and recording with Anna Maria Jopek, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Gil Goldstein.