prof. dr hab. Jakub Stankiewicz

For many years, he has been one of Poland's leading jazz pianists. In the second half of the 1980s, he played with Jan ‘Ptaszyn’ Wróblewski's band, then with Zbigniew Namysłowski's quintet and quartet (albums “Open” and ‘Song Of Innocence’). From 1987 to 1990, he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston (graduating with a degree in piano), where he was awarded the Oscar Peterson Award. He was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. Stankiewicz's American career also included collaboration with the orchestra of legendary clarinettist and bandleader Artie Shaw.

After returning to Poland, he formed a quartet with Henryk Miśkiewicz, Adam Cegielski and Cezary Konrad and recorded the album Northern Song in 1993 (voted Album of the Year by the readers of Jazz Forum), then co-founded the Travelling Birds (Darek Oleszkiewicz, Piotr Wojtasik, Piotr Baron, Cezary Konrad), whose recordings (Travelling Birds Quintet (1994) and Return To The Nest (1995)) cemented his strong position on the national scene.

Other musicians he has played with include Scott Hamilton, Art Farmer (album Art In Wrocław), Sheila Jordan, Janusz Muniak, Tomasz Szukalski, Bob Sheppard, Peter Erskine, Kevin Mahogany, Dorota Miśkiewicz and Anna Maria Jopek. At the end of the 1990s, the album ‘Ulice wielkich miast’ (Streets of Big Cities) was released, featuring arrangements of songs by Agnieszka Osiecka. A few years later, the unprecedented ‘Chopin Songbook’ was released, featuring jazz renditions of songs (separately in Polish and English versions), which the band also presented at the Jazz Jamboree festival in 2003 and, after a long break, again in 2010 (several times) as part of the Chopin Year (including at the Chopin and His Europe festival in Warsaw). In 2012, Kuba Stankiewicz recorded his own album Spaces, which was nominated for the Wrocław Music Award. In February 2013, the album was nominated for the annual FRYDERYK 2013 Phonographic Academy Award in the Album of the Year – Jazz Music category. In the same year, his solo album with his own interpretations of Wojciech Kilar's film music was released. In 2014, Kuba Stankiewicz recorded an album of Victor Young's compositions in a Los Angeles studio with Peter Erskine and Darek Oleszkiewicz. The album was released by Warner Classics. In 2015, a series of concerts promoting the album took place in the USA. In the same year, Kuba Stankiewicz, together with Peter Erskine and Darek Oleszkiewicz, recorded an album with music by Bronisław Kaper, and in 2016, Henryk Wars. In 2019, his album Inspired by Roman Statkowsk was released by PWM Anaklasis, followed by Inspired by Ludomir Różycki in 2023. In 2023, Kuba Stankiewicz was the promoter in the proceedings for awarding the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław to Maestro Jan ‘Ptaszyn’ Wróblewski. The award ceremony took place on 27 March 2023 in the Leopoldina Hall in Wrocław.

From 2016 to 2020, he was the head of the Department, and from 2020 to 2024, he was the head of the Jazz Music Department at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław.