BIOGRAPHY

Szymon Guzowski was born on 22 August 1975 in Poznań. He began his musical education at the Henryk Wieniawski Music Primary School in Poznań in the violin class. He continued his education in professor J. Marczyński’s contrabass class at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Music High School, which he completed with an ‘excellent’ mark. At the same time he was develop-ing his interest in jazz. In 1990 and 1992, the jazz band he played in was qualified to enter the Jazz Juniors competition in Kraków. More

In 1994, he entered the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Music Academy in the fifth position, where he studied in professor P. Czerwiński’s contrabass class. In 1997, he made it all the way to the A. B. Ciechanowski Contrabass Championship final, and was awarded a prize. The following years of his studying, he spent preparing for international competitions. He participated in Tunbridge Wells Young International Concert Artists in Great Britain where he took the 4th place in the string instruments section. The same year, he was given a mark of respect in the 3rd International Contrabass Championship in Bern. In 1999, he was qualified for the second stage of the 34th International Contrabass Championship in Markneukirchen, Germany. In 2000, he was awarded a prize in the J. M. Sperger International Contrabass Championship, Germany.
While studying, he was not only focused on competitions, but gave a large number of concerts and recitals throughout the country.

He played in three concerts as a soloist with orchestra in 1997: S. Kusewicki’s Concerto in F sharp minor for Contrabass with Academic Symphony Orchestra in the A. Mickiewicz Uni-versity, Poznań.; in 2001: G. Bottesini, Concerto in B minor for Contrabass and Orchestra (with Kamerata Nowego Wieku) in Aula UAM in Poznań; in 2004: G. F. Händel Concerto Grosso in G minor, transcription for a double bass and orchestra by P. Czerwiński (with Cam-erata Posnaniensia)

Guzowski’s work is dominated by chamber music, which is divided by himself into three dif-ferent streams: music performed with the piano, with larger ensembles or duets without the piano, and with string chamber orchestras.

An important aspect of his career is cooperation with renowned chamber ensembles. With the Chopin Trio, he performed Schubert’s Piano Quintet ‘The Trout’in Poznań and Sczecin. With Kwartet Wieniawskiego and soloist M. Drewnowski, he performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto F minor, orchestrated for a string quintet (one instrument per part). In the series of concerts ‘Arcydzieła Kameralistyki’, he had the honour to perform such works as J. F. Dobrzyński’s String sextet in E flat major Op. 39 and F. Mendellsohn’s Octet in E flat major Op. 20 with professor B. Bryła among others.

He endeavors to popularize Poznań composers’ works. During the Poznańska Wiosna Muzyczna Festival, he performed D. Kwiatkowska’s ‘Emocje’ for solo contrabass. He also took part in the performance of Z. Kozub’s pastoral oratory, ‘Wołaniem wołam Cię’.

In recent years, he participated in two international festivals. The first was Salezjańskie Lato, where he played with Concerto da Camera (one instrument per part): Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Trumpets and ‘The Four Seasons’, and Scarlatti’s 7 Arie con tromba Sola. The second one was the 2nd International Festival of Music Trzęsacz 2006, where he performed among others: Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’, K. A. Kulka violin solo, M. Jasiński’s ‘Miserere mei, Deus’, O. Respighi’s Suite in Old Style and Grieg’s Suite from Holberg Time, with the Academia chamber orchestra.
In 2000, he began working as a tutti musician of the T. Szeligowski Poznań Filharmonic, and since 2004, he has been a soloist of a contrabass group.

Moreover, Szymon Guzowski cooperated with the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra Orkiestra ‘Amadeus’ in making archive recordings for The Polish Radio.

In his estimation, one of the most unusual projects in his artistic career was the performance of L. Jankowski’s works included in a kind of spectacle-concert ‘Muzyka dla kotów’ during ‘Imprezy Warte Poznania’ Festival.

The cooperation with Amaryllis band is a completely experimental activity for him; they try to mix early music (mostly renaissance and baroque) with rock sounds filtered through elec-tronic devices.
One of the most important experiences in his life was his collaboration with Goran Bregovic Wedding and Funeral Band. As early as he started studying, he performed in about 150 con-certs in Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania) and South America (Brazil, Argentina), in significant international festivals.

Since 2000, he has been a contrabass teacher in the M. Karłowicz Music High School in Poznań. All his graduates were admitted to Music Universities.

In 2006, he began postgraduate studies of early Viennese contrabass music in professor K. Pyzik’s class.

In 2007, he received Wielkopolska Governer’s scholarship. Since 2000, he has been working as professor P. Czerwiński’s assistant in the contrabass class in the I. J. Paderewski Music University in Poznań.