Zbigniew Szymonowicz – winner 8th award IV Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warszawa (1949) – began playing piano at for years of age. He was considered a ‘wunderkind’ in Lviv’s musical circles. He had his first public performance at age eight; and debuted with an orchestra at age 14. From the very beginning of his musical education up until the outbreak of World War II his teacher was Jadwiga Dwernicka. In 1940-1941, he was a student at the Lviv Conservatory in Jakub Marmor’s piano class and Józef Koffler’s composition class. Later, until the end of the war, he taught himself though consulting with other musicians in Lviv. He arrived in Łódź in 1945, where he renewed his studies at the State Higher Music Academy under Stanisław Szpinalski. He received his diploma in 1946. Over the next few years he also studied composition under Prof. Kazimierz Sikorski.
Szymonowicz debuted on the Łódź Philharmonic stage on 10 January 1947, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B flat with orchestra. On 11 April one year later, he appeared as a soloist for the first time, in Poznań, performing the aforementioned piece by Tchaikovsky. In both instance music critics highly regarded Szymonowicz’s abilities, complimenting him for his “great technique”, “serious interpretation”, “culture and musicality”.
An important event in Szymonowicz’s artistic life was his participation in the Fourth Chopin Competition, in 1949, in which he won the 8th award. After this success he began to intensively develop his piano career. He performed in all the artistic centres in the country and went on tours of France, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Norway, Romania, Austria, Finland, Germany, Bulgaria and Russia. In 1952, he enjoyed unprecedented success upon playing several dozen concerts in China.
Zbigniew Szymonowicz was highly valued as an outstanding interpreter of Chopin, whose large selection of works he kept in his steady repertoire, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Ravel, Szymanowski, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Chachaturian. In time the artist began to limit public performances to benefit pedagogy and creative composition.
In 1956, he began teaching a piano class at the State Higher Music School in Łódź, which he taught until his death. He served on the juries of Chopin Competitions in 1970 and 1975.
Among Szymonowicz’s compositions are Piano Concerto, Concertina for piano and small symphony orchestra, Dialogues for piano, string orchestra and percussion, Variations and Fugues on the B.A.C.H theme for two pianos, miniatures for piano, compositions for chamber orchestra, orchestra and vocals. His legacy as a pianist includes recordings of his interpretations of Chopin’s works and Chachaturian’s Piano Concerto.
