Michał Francuz

He graduated from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where he studied under Professor Waldemar Andrzejewski and now teaches in the Department of Piano and the Department of Piano Chamber Music. He also gives international master classes and lectures for students of music there.

A soloist, chamber musician and teacher, he has been performing internationally for over twenty years, appearing on the leading stages of Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East. His venues have included Carnegie Hall in New York (where he made his debut in May 2015), the Chopin Manor House in Żelazowa Wola and the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw, as well as events and festivals in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

He has worked with leading Polish philharmonic and chamber orchestras, including the Poznań, Szczecin, Opole and Kraków Philharmonics, as well as with Sinfonia Varsovia, the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra, the Feelharmony Orchestra, the Collegium F Orchestra and the l’Autunno Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed in opera houses and theatres, including the Grand Theatre in Poznań, the Polish Theatre and the Chamber Theatre in Szczecin, and the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk. He twice held the prestigious position of official pianist of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań (in 2016 and 2022).

The distinguished artists with whom he has created concert and recording projects include Bartłomiej Nizioł, Iwona Sobotka, Seiji Okamoto, Richard Lin, the Silesian Quartet, Stefan Dohr, Agata Zubel, Jarosław Nadrzycki, Jakub Haufa and Piotr Pławner.

He appears regularly at international music festivals, among them Ming Classic, La Folle Journée Chopin – Chopin Open in Warsaw, the Cinquième Festival Culturel International de Musique Symphonique in Algeria, the Lubomirski Festival, Muzyka na Szczytach in Zakopane, Sacrum non Profanum in Trzęsacz, Szczecin Classic, the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Festival in Warsaw and Chopin w Barwach Jesieni in Antonin.

His work also promotes contemporary music and Poland’s compositional heritage. In 2019 he released the album Polskie Sonaty Skrzypcowe (Polish Violin Sonatas), recorded with Bartłomiej Nizioł. In 2020 he recorded albums with Joanna Konarzewska and Rafał Kwiatkowski (the piano trios of Władysław Żeleński and Grzegorz Fitelberg, together with the world premiere recording of Apolinary Szeluto’s trio) and with the Silesian Quartet (Żeleński’s piano trio and piano quartet). He has recorded many times for Polish Radio and Polish Television.