Roman Widaszek – clarinettist with extensive solo, chamber and pedagogical achievements. He graduated with honours from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice – in the class of Professor H. Kierski. He has honed his skills at a number of master courses conducted by, among others, Prof. Guy Deplus and Prof. Michael Arrignon.
He is a laureate of the second prize at the First National Clarinet Festival in Piotrków Trybunalski (1995) and the third prize at the National Composition Competition in Bielsko-Biała (1990). A scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and Art. He has been awarded the Silver Cross for his contribution to the promotion of musical culture. With an active artistic career, he has a rich portfolio of solo and chamber music performances, collaborating with artists and ensembles such as Sharon Kam, Antonio Saiote, Corrado Giuffredi, the Silesian Quartet, and the Hilliard Ensemble. He has performed as a soloist with most of Poland’s orchestras, including the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Silesian Philharmonic, the Kraków Philharmonic, the Poznań Philharmonic, the Sinfonietta Cracovia, AUKSO, the AMADEUS Polish Radio Orchestra, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, and the Sinfonia Iuventus Polish Orchestra, performing works by composers such as C. Stamitz, W. A. Mozart, C. M. Weber, K. Kurpiński, A. Ponchielli, F. Mendelssohn, F. Krommer, M. Bruch, H. Tomasie, W. Lutosławski, M. Górecki, and A. Shaw. He also performs as a soloist and chamber musician at numerous concerts and festivals both in Poland and abroad, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, Italy, France, Portugal, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Denmark, Finland, Kosovo, Macedonia, South Korea, Japan, and China. He has made over twenty recordings (EMI, DUX, CD ACCORD), for which he has been nominated eleven times for the Fryderyk Award. Collaborating with eminent Polish composers (including Hanna Kulenty, Zbigniew Bargielski, Aleksander Lasoń, Mikołaj Górecki, Marcel Chyrzyński and Krzysztof Herdzin), he has premiered many solo and chamber works dedicated to him. He is also one of the few clarinettists to play a rare instrument – the basset horn (an alto type of clarinet). He is a lecturer at national and international courses, including the Royal Conservatory in Brussels and the Music Conservatory in Porto, as well as a juror for national and international clarinet competitions. From 1997 to 2011, he served as the principal clarinettist of Capella Cracoviensis. He is a member of the Krakowskie Trio Stroikowe (Kraków chamber music ensemble), the Kraków Wind Quintet, the Polish Basset Horn Ensemble, and a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Katowice. He is the founder and artistic director of the Music Evenings in the Basilica Festival, the Master Clarinet Courses at the Palace in Rybna, and the International Clarinet Workshops in Koszęcin. Since November 2020, he has been the Artistic Director of the Michał Spisak International Festival in Dąbrowa Górnicza.
Photo by Dariusz Rok
