Frąckiewicz, Maciej

Born in Białystok in 1988, he graduated with honours from the accordion class of Klaudiusz Baran at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in 2012. In 2010-11 he studied with Iñaki Alberdi at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya on a Socrates/Erasmus exchange. He continued his education on the postgraduate level with Grzegorz Stopa at a Konzertexamen course at the University of Music in Detmold and at the Exzellenz-Konzertexamen course with Mie Miki at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. He has taken part in masterclasses run notably by Teodoro Anzellotti, Stefan Hussong, Geir Draugsvoll, Julius Berger, Paolo Pandolfo, and Kristian Bezuidenhout. He has won awards at prestigious accordion competitions in Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Italy, and Spain, including the 1st Prize and Grand Prix at the International Accordion Competition in Poprad (2003), 1st Prize at the International Accordion Music Festival in Przemyśl (2003 and 2004), 2nd Prize at the 42nd International Accordion Competition in Klingenthal (in duo with Magdalena Bojanowicz, 2008), Grand Prix at the Young Performers 20thand 21st-Century Music Competition in Radziejowice (2009), 1st Prize and two special awards in the Michał Spisak International Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza (2009), Special Award in the International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Cracow (with Magdalena Bojanowicz, 2010), 1st Prize at the Carlo Civardi International Accordion Competition in Val Tidone, Italy (2010), 1st Prize at the Andrzej Krzanowski International Accordion Competition in Czechowice-Dziedzice (2010), 1st Prize at the prestigious Arrasate Hiria Competition (2012), 1st Prize at the GWK Competition in Münster (2015), and 1st Prize at the Folkwang Preis (2017). He received the Polityka weekly Passport Award (in a duo with Magdalena Bojanowicz) for his "very mature and diverse interpretations of contemporary music and other music genres; for courage, daring and consistency; for enriching the musical repertoire; for his concert creations and stimulating our imagination, as well as his persuasive strength." In 2010, he represented the Polish Radio at the International Forum of Young Performers (Euroradio New Talent) organised by the European Broadcasting Union. In 2012, he won the DAAD award for the best foreign student at the University of Music in Detmold.

He has held a number of scholarships, including from the Polish Minister of Culture for outstanding artistic achievements (2007 and 2010) and the prestigious Young Poland scholarship from the Ministry of Culture for his CD recording of Polish contemporary music (in duo with Magdalena Bojanowicz). That CD, released by Sarton, was nominated for the Fryderyk Award of the Polish Phonographic Academy in two categories: Contemporary Music Album of the Year and Best Polish Music Recording. 2014 saw the release of Frąckiewicz's debut solo CD (on DUX) with works by Bach, Gubaidulina, Franck, Tuchowski, and the premiere recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's Sinfonietta for accordion solo. An important aspect of Frąckiewicz's work as an instrumentalist is his close cooperation with composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki (whose Sinfonietta for accordion he premiered and edited for print for Schott) as well as Zygmunt Krauze, Paweł Szymański, Dariusz Przybylski, Cezary Duchnowski, Wojciech Blecharz, and Jagoda Szmytka. He premiered over 80 new works for accordion. In 2016 he gave the Polish premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Fetzen as well as Gubaidulina's Under the Sign of Scorpio (with the Polish National Radio Orchestra). In June 2012, he appeared as a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music graduates concert). He has also performed with orchestras such as Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Polish Radio Symphony, and Kammerorchester Berlin. He regularly appears at festivals in Poland and abroad, including Warsaw Autumn, Polish Music Festival in Cracow, Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, La Folle Journée, Neue Horizonten in Hanover, Two Days and Two Nights of New Music in Odessa, Ukraine, Musique au Leman at onon-les-Bains, France. He has recently given recitals during the Folefest in Lisbon and the Latvian New Music Days in Riga. During a concert tour of China in 2016, he has also appeared in concert halls such as Wuhan's Qintai Concert Hall, Changsha Concert Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Beijing Children's Palace, Harbin's Grand Theatre, Harbin Music Hall. He has sat on the juries of accordion competitions in Castelfidardo, Lisbon, and Harbin. His next major activities will include a new CD with Mozart's works as well as the accordion works of Gubaidulina and Penderecki. He plays a Pigini Nova accordion, considered the world's most exclusive.