Adam Bałdych

Violinist and composer Adam Bałdych has won acclaim as an excellent improviser discovering uncharted territories in violin music, as well as a genuine personality, capable of establishing a dialogue with artists from both the classical, improvised, and popular music scenes.

‘Jazz violin redefined,’ declared The Guardian (UK), while Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych ‘undoubtedly the greatest living master of jazz violin technique, of whom one can expect anything’. Considered as ‘the violin’s child prodigy’, he launched his music career at age 14 and was soon hailed as an innovator combining the achievements of classical music with a contemporary language and an improviser’s talent. He soon developed his own style that has inspired a whole new generation of improvising violinists.

Bałdych has presented his music at the world’s major jazz festivals, with performances in Poland, Germany, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain, and Indonesia, among others.

The violinist performs and records with such outstanding artists as Paolo Fresu, Yaron Herman, Joachim Kuhn, Agata Szymczewska, Leszek Możdżer, Helge Lien, Aaron Parks, Lars Danielsson, Nils Landgren, Iiro Rantala, Marius Neset, Jacob Karlzon, and Billy Cobham.

His numerous accolades include the Grand Prix and individual prize of the 2006 ‘Jazz on the Odra’ festival, ECHO Jazz, and the 2024 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (award of German music record reviewers), as well as Polish state decorations: the Gold Cross of Merit, Decoration of Honor ‘Meritorious for Polish Culture’, and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture. He was also thrice nominated for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award as Personality of the Year.

Bałdych dedicates increasingly more attention to composing classical music, commissioned and performed by such well-known orchestras and publishers as OMN New Music Orchestra (Antiphona, 2016), AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy (Early Birds Symphony), Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Concerto Galante), PWM Edition (Kuyawiak), and AUKSO / Polish Radio Choir (world premiere – Maryla’s Grave for violin, choir, and string orchestra).

Highly acclaimed for his creative work in the fields of jazz and contemporary music performance, for his inventive fusion of these two, and for extremely distinctive interpretations, Bałdych has appeared on nearly 20 albums, including the most recent titles: Passacaglia (duo with Leszek Możdżer), Legend (with Adam Bałdych Quintet and violinist Agata Szymczewska), as well as Poetry (with eminent Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu).

Adam Bałdych resides and works in Warsaw, Poland.