Music writer TONY MAGEE previews the visit to Canberra this month of acclaimed Polish pianist Lucas Krupinski.

Renowned Polish pianist Łukasz Krupiński will visit Canberra this month.

Preferring his Westernised first name Lucas when abroad, the 32-year-old won first prize at the 7th San Marino International Piano Competition in 2016 as well as the Audience Award, the Music Critics Award and the Orchestra Award, Krupinski has gone on to win international piano competitions in Hannover, Aachen and Goerlitz.

Krupinski is no stranger to Canberra audiences, having previously been engaged as a headliner in two Canberra International Music Festivals, to standing ovations, at the invitation of then-festival artistic director Roland Peelman.

His US debut came in 2018, where he performed to critical acclaim in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

From Carnegie Hall to Korea, Krupinski performed a special recital to mark the opening of the Winter Olympics in 2018.

Other recent international recitals include engagements at London’s Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall in 2021 and Teatro La Fenice in Venice and La Verdi in Milano in 2022.

His debut album Espressione was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards alongside albums by colleagues Krystian Zimerman and Evgeny Kissin, receiving excellent press reviews in Pizzicato magazine and The Gramophone, and on Radio Luxembourg and Radio France.

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1992, Krupinski is a graduate of the Frederic Chopin Institute in Warsaw with “Magna cum Laude” distinction, with further post graduate studies at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media and the Royal College of Music in London.

International awards include Laureate of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Prize for remarkable artistic accomplishments in Poland, and the National Heritage Scholarship and the Krystian Zimerman Foundation Scholarship.

Krupinski has also been honoured with a Commemorative Medal from the Frederic Chopin University of Music in recognition of his artistic achievements. In 2024, he was invited to join the doctoral programme at that institution.

Lucas Krupinski will depart Canberra on November 26, where a busy concert schedule in Europe and the UK awaits him.

Łukasz Krupiński plays at the Belgium embassy on November 13 at 6.30pm, and The Wesley Music Centre on November 17 at 4pm.