Karolina Styczeń

A native of Krakow (Poland), she studied at the Stanislaw Moniuszko State Conservatory of Music, in Bielsko-Biała, with professors Helena Firlej and Tomasz Strahl; and then at the Fryderyk Chopin Higher Academy of Music, in Warsaw, with professors Andrzej Bauer and Kazimierz Michalik. She performed as a soloist with the Bielsko and Concerto Avenna chamber orchestras; and with the Silesian Philharmonic and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy, among others.

In 2003 she entered the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where she received a full scholarship and furthered her cello studies with Natalia Shakovskaya. In 2005 she received the title of Best Student in the Cello Chair of this prestigious School, from the hands of H.M. the Queen of Spain. She has participated in master classes given by Kerstin Feltz, Ralf Gothóni, Ithay Khen, Walter Levin, Philippe Müller and Miklós Perényi, among others.

She has won the First Prize at the Young Artist Silesian Competition; the Special Prize at the I Kazimierz Wilkomirski Cello Competition; the Jury Prize at the Bronislaw Huberman Competition; and the Second Prize at the Thessaloniki Chamber Competition (Greece).

She has performed at the Auditorio Nacional de España, at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and at the Fundación Juan March in Madrid; at the prestigious Witold Lutoslawski Hall in Warsaw, at the Silesian Philharmonic, at the Chopin Society (TIFC), at the Reykjavik Auditorium (Iceland) and at the Guadalajara Theater (Mexico). He has shared the stage with artists such as Michal Dmochowski, Michal Dworzynski, José María Gallardo del Rey, Andrzej Mysinski and Fabián Panisello, as well as with the Plural Ensemble and Maestranza.

Among his most emblematic recordings is Beethoven’s Sonata for cello and piano No. 1 in C major (Sony). Her latest recording is Haydn’s Concerto for cello and orchestra in D major (Dux), with the Concerto Avenna Orchestra. He has also recorded with TVE, RNE and the Polish National Radio.

She holds the Chair of Cello at the Centro Superior de Enseñanzas Musicales Katarina Gurska in Madrid.