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Seifert Night @ Belgrade Jazz Festival

On October 26, 2023, a remarkable duo of two jazz individualities performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival: Leszek Możdżer and Adam Pierończyk.

The duo enjoyed its triumphs in the late 1990s, recording two albums, "19-9-1999" and "Live in Sofia."

The artists accepted the invitation of the Zbigniew Seifert Foundation and the Belgrade Jazz Festival to present the Polish jazz scene in Serbia.

The Zbigniew Seifert Foundation was established in 2010 to disseminate the achievements of its patron, to support young artists playing improvised music on stringed instruments, but also to promote Polish jazz abroad.

Zbigniew Seifert is one of the most prominent figures in Polish jazz, as well as one of the most important figures in world jazz violin. An artist who, despite his short life (1946-1979), uncompromisingly pursued the realization and authentic presentation of his music. Unfortunately, his body of work is not huge, we can only rejoice in the fact that the value of his legacy is timeless. The most important event implemented by the foundation to date has been the Seifert Competition(www.seifertcompetitiom.com), an international competition aimed at young artists playing jazz on stringed instruments.

Adam Pierończyk & Leszek Możdżer:

Adam Pierończyk

Saxophonist, composer, leader and producer.

According to the international press, one of the most interesting and creative European musicians, and -one of the greatest innovators in Polish jazz.

To date, he has released 25 albums under his own name, for which he has won numerous awards and honors, including 18 nominations and two major Fryderyk awards as Jazz Musician of the Year and Jazz Album of the Year.

Voted Best Soprano Saxophonist 18 times according to Jazz Forum magazine. From 2005 to 2006, he was the artistic director of the festivals Jazz aux Oudayas and Jazz Au Chellah (Rabat / Morocco, 2005-2006), the Sopot Jazz Festival (2011 - 2015), and the Jazz Juniors Festival in Cracow from 2019 to 2023. He composes music for theatrical performances.

He performs all over the world. To date, he has performed in almost all of Europe and in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Morocco, Iran, Brazil, the US, Mexico and China.

He has collaborated with, among others. With such musicians as: Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Miroslav Vitous, Gary Thomas, Greg Osby, Bobby McFerrin, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Trilok Gurtu, Mino Cinelu, Tomasz Stanko, Ted Curson, Avishai Cohen, Adrian Mears, Ernst Reijseger, Wolfgang Puschnig, Lage Lund, Orlando Le Fleming, Joe Martin, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Majid Bekkas, Anthony Cox, Lars Danielsson, Nelson Veras, Anthony Joseph, John B. Arnold, Joey Calderazzo, Mircea Tiberian, Fisz Emade, Agata Zubel, Krzysztof Knittel, Marcin Wasilewski Trio and Leszek Możdżer.

Leszek Możdżer

An outstanding pianist, composer and producer, Leszek Możdżer is widely regarded as the biggest revelation on the Polish jazz scene of the last decade.

Born in 1971, he has been playing the piano since the age of five. He went through all stages of formal education until graduating in 1996 from the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk. He became interested in jazz relatively late - in his senior year - at the age of 18.

He came into contact with jazz in clarinetist Emil Kowalski's band, but his proper start was at his first rehearsal with the band Love in 1991. A year later he received an individual prize at the Jazz Juniors '92 International Jazz Competition in Cracow. He was also a member of the Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet. In a poll of Jazz Forum readers, Możdżer was voted Most Promising Musician of the Year 1993 and 1994, and Best Jazz Pianist - in each subsequent year since 1994. Leszek Możdżer was also repeatedly awarded the title of Musician of the Year.

Leszek Możdżer has recorded music many times with Zbigniew Preisner (Requiem for My Friend, 10 Easy Pieces for Piano). He also permanently collaborates with Jan Kaczmarek, a Polish composer living in Los Angeles, recording music for films (including for 20th Century Fox and Miramax). He has been invited to perform together with some of Poland's most talented and acclaimed jazz musicians, including Tomasz Stanko, Janusz Muniak, Michal Urbaniak, Anna Maria Jopek, Adam Pierończyk and Piotr Wojtasik.

Możdżer has also performed and recorded with many internationally renowned musicians, such as David Friesen, Pat Metheny, Arthur Blythe, Buster Williams, Billy Harper, Joe Lovano, Archi Shepp, David Liebman, Charles Fox, Lester Bowie, David Gilmour, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, Steve Swallow, Eddie Daniels and Tan Dun.

Since 2011, Leszek Możdżer has been the artistic director of the Enter Music Festival, held annually in Poznań, on Lake Strzeszyńskie.

Leszek Możdżer has recorded more than 100 albums, many of which have been released under his name.