On Wednesday, July 8, at 9:30 p.m., a top-tier musical event arrives at the Quintanar Palace in Segovia: Polish pianist and composer Włodek Pawlik—the only Polish winner of a Grammy in the jazz category (2014) and acclaimed as the “Vladimir Horowitz of jazz” at the North Sea Jazz Festival—will offer a recital in which his music transcends the boundaries of the genre to become an unforgettable experience. Free admission until capacity is reached.
Author of more than 46 albums, film soundtracks, an opera, and a musical premiered in Berlin, Pawlik is an artist who never repeats himself: each concert arises from a spontaneous dialogue with the place, the moment, and the audience, weaving intimate and refined improvisations on his own compositions and the great standards of jazz in an evening that promises to be, quite simply, unique.
WŁODEK PAWLIK (1958): jazz pianist, composer, and the only Polish winner of a GRAMMY Award in the jazz category (2014, for the album “Night in Calisia” with Randy Brecker). He has recorded 46 albums, including 7 piano recitals. He is a graduate of Professor Barbara Hesse-Bukowska’s piano class at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and of the Jazz Faculty at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg. At the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague (1998), he was hailed as the “Vladimir Horowitz of jazz.” He has composed award-winning soundtracks for Polish films, including “Rewers,” “Wrony,” and “Pora Umierać,” as well as the English-language film “Within the Whirlwind,” starring Emily Watson. Author of the opera “Via Sancta,” the ballet “Flow,” and the musical “Irena,” about Irena Sendler (premiered in Berlin in 2024). On June 4, 2014, in Warsaw’s Castle Square, in the presence of Barack Obama, the premiere of his jazz and orchestral suite “Freedom” took place. For 20 years, he has taught improvisation at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He performs concerts worldwide as a soloist, as well as leading the Włodek Pawlik Trio and the Włodek Pawlik Quartet.
He has collaborated with, among others, R. Brecker, M. Stern, A. Sandoval, and B. Hart.
In his recitals, Pawlik performs his own compositions, but he also frequently revisits his favorite jazz and popular music standards, which he transforms into intimate and refined piano improvisations. The phenomenon of this artist lies in the fact that each of his concerts is unique, inspired by the place, the moment, the space, and the connection with the audience. Pawlik’s concerts are a hypnotic pleasure, a true immersion in art.
Co-financed by: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage through the Cultural Promotion Fund.
Presented by the Palacio Quintanar, innovation and development center for design and culture, of the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport of the Government of Castile and León.
In collaboration with: Drylock Technologies, Caja Rural Segovia, Polish Cultural Institute
WHERE
Palacio Quintanar (C/San Agustín s/n, Segovia)
WHEN
Wednesday, July 8, at 9:30 p.m.
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