Krzesimir Dębski is a prominent Polish composer, celebrated orchestral conductor as well as virtuoso jazz violinist and pianist. Equally at home in the world of jazz and classical music. He have worked in nearly all the fields of the music world. Dębski is chiefly known for his numerous and highly popular film scores but he is convinced that classical music is his proper domain. Prof. dr hab. Krzesimir Dębski is a lecturer in composition and arrangement at The Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music.
Early career
Born in Wałbrzych on October 26, 1953 in a family of refugees from Volhynia. Krzesimir Dębski started his music education at the age of six in Kielce at a music school run by his father. He graduated from the Secondary Music School in Lublin in the piano class with Piano Concerto No. 1 by L. v. Beethoven and violin class with F. Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor in 1972. Dębski studied composition with Andrzej Koszewski and conducting with Witold Krzemieński at the Poznań Academy of Music. He sang in the “Poznań Madrigalists” choir. He played, composed and arranged for the Polish Radio Orchestra in Poznań. As a musician of the beloved by the audience “Tey” cabaret he played in almost seven hundred performances. Successes in jazz and popular music exploded very quickly.
Compositional works
He dedicate 80% of his time to creativity, which is a polystylistic attempt at a synthesis of broadly defined contemporary music. For Krzesimir Dębski, composing is the most important aspect of his musical career. Krzesimir Dębski is a composer of over 70 symphonic and chamber works. He wrote four piano concertos and three violin ones. His works have been performed at the most prestigious music festivals, most importantly those ones devoted not only to contemporary music, such as the Luzern Festival or Piano Spheres in Los Angeles, at festivals in Malmo, Brussels and Pasandena, but also in such exotic countries as Mexico, India and Korea. It should be emphasised that these works were performed by great artists who are not often persuaded to perform new music: Vadim Riepin, Jose Cura, Susan Svrcek, Daniel Stabrawa – the performer of Violin Concerto No. 2, Gilad Atzmon, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s Cello Ansamble, the Oslo-based Solvguttene Choir and Konstanty Andrzej Kulka – the performer of Violin Concerto No. 3. Dębski has won many contests dedicated to composers, including the 25th Anniversary Contest of the Poznań Music Spring Festival and the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Works.
He has also wrote music for over hundred feature and documentary films including: “Medium”, “Thomas Falconer”, “Kingsajz”, “Ogniem i mieczem”, “W Pustyni i w Puszczy”, “Tam i z powrotem”, “Stara Baśń”, “1920 Bitwa Warszawska”, “Wojna Światów” (2020) and popular TV series (“Klan”, “Złotopolscy”, “Na dobre i na złe”, “Czułość i kłamstwa”, “Sfora”, “Na Wspólnej”, “Matki żony i kochanki”, “Ranczo”). In 2000 he received the Fryderyk Award in the category “Composer of the Year” and the International Film Academy Philip Award for the original soundtrack for “Ogniem i mieczem” movie. In 2001 at the International Film Festival in Pyrgos (Greece), he received an award for the music to the film “W Pustyni i w Puszczy”. The soundtrack for the film “Stara Baśń” was awarded the readers’ prize “Złota Kaczka 2003” by “Film” magazine. In 2007, Andrzej Maleszka’s TV series “Magiczne drzewo” (“Magic Tree”) with music by Krzesimir Dębski won the Emmy Award 2007 in the category of TV films and children’s programmes. The series was also awarded at the Artiek Festival (Ukraine). In 2005 Krzesimir Dębski was commissioned by Hollywood’s LimeLight Films to compose new music for 16 silent Charlie Chaplin films from 1914 to 1917. He use to be lecturer in composition at workshops in Bilkent, Darmstadt, Salzau and San Diego.
Conducting
Krzesimir Dębski has conducted, composed and arranged concerts with such international stars of various genres as: Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Cura, Adam Makowicz, Canadian Brass, Vadim Riepin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Mark O’Connor, Regina Carter, John Blake and Nigel Kennedy, Brandford Marsalis, UB40, Cris DeBurgh, Garou and Keb’ Mo’. He has conducted almost all of the Polish orchestras, including The Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, The National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as The Irish BBC Orchestra, The Moscow Symphony, The Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), The Orchestra Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro, The Cyprus National Orchestra, The Leopolis Chamber Orchestra and the Wind Orchestra of Los Angeles, as well as The Sud-Westfunk Orchester, The Novi Sad Radio Orchestra and The Santiago de Chile National Orchestra. He conducted early music, classical music (L. V. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony), W.A.Mozart’s symphonies, great romantic symphonies, but also ballet and opera music. He has also premiered and recorded works by L. Foss, V. Krause, Oralndo Garcia to name a few and has made a lot of recordings of his own film music, as well as music written by other composers, such as Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, S. Syrewicz, M. Lorenc and Alberto Iglesias.
Jazz and violin
As the leader and soloist of the jazz ensemble String Connection, he has played concerts since 1980 in almost all of Europe, as well as in the USA and Canada (nearly 1000 concerts, also on radio and television). As young jazzman he received numerous awards: at the Jazz nad Odrą Festival, The Komeda’s Prize, Medal of Young Art. He recorded his first albums with the K. Jonkisz Quintet and the “Nasza Basia Kochana” band. After his performance at Jazz Jamboree 80, he was invited for the first time by the famous promoter J. E. Berendt to participate in the New Jazz Meeting festival in Baden-Baden. There he also recorded his first album with an international star cast, including Wolfgang Dauner, Didier Lockwood, Trilok Gurtu and Charlie Mariano. He won First Prize at the European Jazz Competition in Hoeilaart, Belgium (1983) and the Stanisław Wyspiański Prize (1985). In the 1980s – in the polls of “Jazz Forum” magazine – he repeatedly won the title of “Best Musician”, “Best Composer” and “Best Arranger of the Year”, both in Poland and Europe. In 1985 he was listed as one of the top ten jazz violinists by the American magazine “Down Beat”. He has also won numerous awards in radio and record contests. He has played with leading jazz musicians in Poland and abroad and has taken part in festivals in Reno (USA), Getxo (Spain), Paris, Helsinki, Montreal, Kongsberg, Hamburg, Baden-Baden, Budapest, Leverkusen, Sibiu, Debrecen, Bratislava, Berlin, Nuremberg, The Hague, Prague, Copenhagen, Le Mans, London, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, NY, (Carnegie Hall), Cairo, Moscow, among others. He has recorded over 60 albums with his compositions for many record labels.
