Biography
Marek Kakol was born in 2001 in Poland. He attended the Moniuszko Music School in Bielsko-Biala, where he studied piano with Aneta Kolbasa-Chrobak. Since 2020, he is a student of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His teacher is Prof. Jan Jiracek von Arnim, but currently he resides in Paris, where he develops his pianistic skills with Prof. Jean-Marc Luisada at the Ecole Normal de Musique Cortot.
Marek has taken part in masterclasses led by such distinguished pianists as Andrzej Jasinski, Janusz Olejniczak, Michel Beroff, Eugen Indjic, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, Igor Tchetuev, Zbigniew Raubo, Philippe Giusiano, Jerzy Sterczynski, Aleksiej Orlowiecki. In 2019, he was a scholar of Morningside Music Bridge program, which was held at the New England Conservatory in Boston, USA. In 2020, he attended a public lecture and masterclass with Prof. Daniel Barenboim at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin. He’s also a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and takes part in the intensive weeks and activities held there.
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Marek’s principal achievements include several national and international prizes such a the 2nd prize and the special prize as a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York in the “25th International Chopin Piano Competition” in Chorpus Christi, USA (2020), the 1st prize in the “International Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition for Young Pianists” in Dusseldorf, Germany (2019), the 1st prize in the 5th “International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition” in Turzno, Poland (2019), the Grand Prix and special prizes in the “3rd “Musical Personalities ATMA Competition” in Zakopane, Poland (2018), the 2nd prize and the special prize for the best performance of work by Ignacy Jan Paderewski in the “15th Halina Czerny-Stefanska Piano Competition” in Plock, Poland (2018), distinction and special prizes in the “25th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth” in Szafarnia, Poland (2017), the 3rd prize in the “3rd National Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition” in Zywiec, Poland (2017) and the 1st prize in the “12th National Piano Competition” in Rybnik, Poland (2016).
Marek had the privilege to work with such prominent pianists and pedagogues as Prof. Andre Laplante, Prof. Krzysztof Jablonski, Prof. Meng-Chieh Liu, Prof. John Perry, Prof. HaeSun Paik and others. He has performed at such venues as the Jordan Hall and the Brown Hall in Boston, the Antoniussaal in Dusseldorf, the Wroclaw Philharmonic Hall, the King Jan III’s Palace in Warsaw, the Chopin Center in Szafarnia, the Karol Szymanowski Museum in Zakopane (department of the National Museum in Cracow), the Elzbieta Stefanska’s Music Lounge in Cracow, the Music and Literature Club in Wroclaw as well as the Subcarpathian Museum in Krosno during the 25th Edition of European Heritage Days (EHD).
In 2019, he made his debut as a soloist with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.