Tomasz Kamieniak is a pianist and composer who enjoys playing the works of not only of familiar figures like Franz Liszt but also Charles-Valentin Alkan and other less familiar composers.
Tomasz Kamieniak graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice
after attending the piano class of Joanna Domańska. He further developed his playing
under Rolf-Dieter Arens at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar,
Konstantin Scherbakov (Piano Master-Classes), Zbigniew Raubo (postgraduate studies in Katowice) and Leslie Howard in London.
He was awarded the special prize at the Fourth International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar and recorded works by Józef Wieniawski as the winner of the Grand Prix at the Fourth Competition for a recording project ‘Forgotten Polish Music’ organised by the Acte Préalable label.
A scholarship recipient, both from the Marshall’s Office in Katowice and the Wagner Society
in Bayreuth, he also received a prize presented by the Mayor of Tarnowskie Góry
in recognition of his cultural achievements.
Tomasz Kamieniak’s solo performances include the Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano at the ‘Indian Summer in Levoča’ music festival in Slovakia, the ‘Piano Extravaganza’ festival in Sofia and during recitals given in Kyiv, Weimar, London, Bayreuth and the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce, as well as the Alkan Symphony for Solo Piano in the Academy of Music in Katowice, as well as in Bielsko-Biała and Zakopane. He has given recitals in Bayreuth and Venice under the auspices of the Wagner Society. In 2008, during a three-part recital at the Steingraeber Haus in Bayreuth, he performed all of Liszt’s Wagner transcriptions on Liszt’s own 1876 piano. He also performed Liszt's two-piano arrangement of the Faust Symphony with Leslie Howard in London. In 2021 he performed at the American Liszt Society Festival via recorded videos since the pandemic precluded travel. In 2023 he made a series of successful debuts in the national recital halls in Taiwan, performed again at the Levoča festival and debuted at the festival ‘Les Nuits Romantiques’ in Verbania in northern Italy. His appearances as a concerto soloist in Poland include one with at the Polish Youth Symphony Orchestra under Andrzej Affeltowicz in the Liszt Second Piano Concerto; the Józef Wieniawski Piano Concerto with the Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra under Monika Wolińska during the ‘Swego nie Znacie’ festival of Polish music and with the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra under Alexander Walker during the ‘Świętokrzyskie Days of Music’ festival; the Górecki Concerto and Glass Tirol Concerto with the Nomos String Orchestra under Mieczysław Unger during the ‘New Music Festival’ in Bytom; and the Kilar Second Piano Concerto and Górecki Concerto with the Archetti String Orchestra under Maciej Tomasiewicz in Jaworzno.In 2024 Tomasz performed as the opening soloist for Polish Radio Chopin Festival in Antonin and as the musical guest for the Harvard Law School Association of Europe reunion at Lobkowicz Castle in Prague. He made his American debut in San Francisco, and again performed at national recital halls in Taiwan, premiering his Berlin Piano Works, op.67 alongside works by Liszt, Alkan, and Thalberg.
In addition to his activities as a pianist, Tomasz Kamieniak is also a composer, and his considerable œuvre has earned recognition from performers and audiences. He has written for piano and harpsichord and composed chamber, vocal and film music, as well as producing piano transcriptions of music by Queen, Glass, Górecki, Gounod, Kilar, Korngold, Liszt, Preisner, Prokofiev and others. In 2022, his Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, Op.78, was premiered at the Podlasie Philharmonic in Białystok and later at the Concert Studio Lutosławski in Warsaw, and again in 2023 in Jaworzno with the Archetti String Orchestra. Also in 2023, his most recent composition,
Sceny for cello and piano op.81, was premiered at the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce.
His works are performed by such esteemed Polish musicians as Hanna Balcerzak, Aleksandra Gajecka-Antosiewicz, Anna Górecka, Gabriela Szendzielorz-Jungiewicz and Przemysław Wierzba. In 2023 and 2024, harpsichordists Anna Krzysztofik-Buczynska and Lilianna Stawarz performed his Wandermusik für zwei Cembali, op.83 in Białystok and in Warsaw at the Dramma per Musica Festival. In April 2025, Maciej Tomasiewicz will lead the Chamber Orchestra Archetti in the premiere of Kamieniak's Landschaften nach Caspar David Friedrich für Streichorchester, op.84.
His compositions and transcriptions are published by MusePress of Japan and Ars Musica of Poland.
Tomasz Kamieniak makes his home in Berlin