Born in 1987, he graduated from Andrzej Bauer’s cello class in the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (with an honours degree and the Magna cum Laude medal of distinction) and from the Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw (1st prize in the Zofia Lissa Competition for the Best Master’s Thesis). He also studied with Julius Berger at the Leopold Mozart Centre in Augsburg.
He has given recitals and concerts throughout Europe, as well as in the United States and Korea, frequently performing his own compositions and arrangements. As a soloist, he has appeared in such prestigious venues as the Rudolfinum in Prague, Carnegie Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, Pyotr Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, Hermitage Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Westphalian Philharmonic Concert Hall (Konzerthaus Dortmund), Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, Warsaw Philharmonic and the Polish Radio Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in Warsaw. He has also been invited to perform at prestigious music festivals including the BBC Proms in London, Musical Olympus in Saint Petersburg, Chopin and his Europe in Warsaw, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, Wartburg Festival and the Mecklenburg– Vorpommern Festival.
He has played with leading ensembles including the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Camerata, European Union Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic, and with eminent soloists and chamber musicians such as Urszula Kryger, Olga Pasichnyk, Ewa Pobłocka, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Nelson Goerner, Krzysztof Jabłoński, and José Gallardo. During the Chamber Music Connects the World festival organised by the Kronberg Academy, he performed with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, and Tatiana Grindenko. Marcin Zdunik has played with outstanding conductors such as Andrey Boreyko, Tadeusz Strugała, Antoni Wit, and Andres Mustonen.
His numerous international awards include the 1st prize, Grand Prix and nine other awards in the Witold Lutosławski Cello Competition in Warsaw (2007). In 2008 he represented the Polish Radio at the European Broadcasting Union’s International Forum of Young Performers in Bratislava, where he won the 1st prize and the title of New Talent 2008. In 2009 he was granted the Warranty of Culture Award of TVP Kultura television channel. The same year saw the release of his debut album, featuring two cello concertos by Joseph Haydn recorded with the Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra under Jan Stanienda, awarded the 2010 Fryderyk Award of the Polish Phonographic Academy. His most recent CD, recorded with pianist Aleksandra Świgut and produced by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, is dedicated to the music of Robert Schumann.
Marcin Zdunik has recorded extensively for the Polish Radio and Polish Television (TVP), as well as the Slovak Radio. He plays a cello built by Wojciech Topa.
