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Chopin University Big Band


photo by: Mateusz Żaboklicki

Chopin University Big Band was established in 2006 on the initiative of Bogumił Gadawski and Błażej Sroczyński. At that time, it was Ryszard Borowski that was entrusted with the band’s supervision. In 2012, the position of the artistic director was taken over by Piotr Kostrzewa. Since then, the band has performed at spectacular musical events, e.g. in three editions of La Folle Journée Festival (Nantes 2014, 2017, 2019), Crazy Days of Music (Warsaw 2014, 2017), Jazz Jamboree festival, Siauliai Big Band Festival as well as at television concerts: Oscar Evening at Canal+; Five o’Clock in Programme II of Polish Radio and the Concert in Programme III – 100 Years of Sinatra. In 2017, the band performed at the headquarters of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Its phonographic output includes ten CDs: L’historie du big bandClassic on JazzBig Band – Swingujące Święta [Big Band – Swinging Christmas], I Got Rhythm and DanceFrank Sinatra. 100-lecie urodzin [Frank Sinatra. 100th Anniversary of Birth] / Concert in Programme III, guest participation on Basia Trzetrzelewska’s album Butterflies, Carnets de Voyage with the participation of conductor and arranger Miho Hazama or the album Cinema Boogie. Awarded twice the Grand Prix of the Big Band Festival in Nowy Tomyśl (2015, 2017), the band was one of the stars of the Summer with the Radio Festival in 2019, on the occasion of which it recorded the album Festiwal Lato z Radiem [Summer with the Radio Festival]. The Chopin University Big Band also performed at the final concert of the 63rd Warsaw Autumn Festival (2020). In July 2021, it took part in the anniversary Summer with the Radio Festival, and its performance was included in the commemorative album 50 lat Lata z Radiem [50 Years of Summer with the Radio]. The Chopin University Big Band has performed with such renowned artists as Basia Trzetrzelewska, Krzesimir Dębski, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Dorota Miśkiewicz, Adam Sztaba, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Gordon Goodwin, Grupa MoCarta, Kuba Badach, Janusz Szrom, Sławek Uniatowski, Vivian Buczek, Katarzyna Cerekwicka, Łukasz Zagrobelny, Danuta Błażejczyk, Wojciech Myrczek or Anna Serafińska.