MA Dorota Miskiewicz

A graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in the violin class, she quickly realised that the only instrument she needed was her own vocal cords...

The daughter of the famous jazz saxophonist Henryk Miśkiewicz, she began her career in Włodzimierz Nahorny's band, with whom she recorded a series of albums dedicated to Polish composers: Karol Szymanowski, Fryderyk Chopin and Mieczysław Karłowicz. Their collaboration has been ongoing since 1995.

Since 2018, she has consistently won the Jazz Top poll conducted by Jazz Forum magazine in the Vocalist category. The singer's skills and versatility have led to her being invited to collaborate with many prominent figures, such as the diva from Cape Verde, Cesaria Evora, Stefano Bollani and Nigel Kennedy, as well as Jan ‘Ptaszyn’ Wróblewski, Wojciech Młynarski, Tomasz Stańko, Grzegorz Turnau, with whom she has been recording and performing regularly since 2005, and many others. She could also be heard in a duet with Jerzy Wasowski. She is the author and composer of many songs that she performs. 

She has performed at numerous festivals – several times at the Opole Festival and Jazz Jamboree, as well as at the Old Jazz Meeting ‘Złota Tarka’, Ingolstaedter Jazz Tage, Jazz Rally in Dusseldorf, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, and Sacrum-Profanum Festival.

She also found time to regularly record solo albums: Dorota Goes to Heaven – Zatrzymaj się in 2002 (nominated for a Fryderyk Award in the jazz category), ‘Pod rzęsami’ in 2005, ‘Caminho’ in 2008 (‘Gold Disc’ in the pop category and two Fryderyk Award nominations), “ALE” in 2012, "Lutosławski, Tuwim. Songs Not Only for Children‘ recorded with the Kwadrofonik band in 2013 (’Gold Record" and Fryderyk Award nomination in the classical music category), and in 2016, the compilation ‘Best of’ and ‘PIANO.PL’ were released, which is a recording of a unique concert to which Dorota invited several of the best Polish pianists, including Leszek Możdżer, Marcin Wasilewski and Andrzej Jagodziński. It is the first live album in her discography and her first DVD production. Her latest album, Nasza Miłość (Our Love) (2021), was created in collaboration with her father, the famous saxophonist Henryk Miśkiewicz. It is, in a way, a family album, also due to the presence of her brother, Michał Miśkiewicz (a well-known drummer), and is undoubtedly the most jazz-oriented of her albums.

She has experimented with African music (thanks to her duet with Cesaria Evora), Balkan music (thanks to her recording of the song ‘Jovano Jovanke’, or ‘Anna Joanna’), and has also dabbled in free jazz and classical music in Włodzimierz Nahorny's projects dedicated to Polish composers. Her album recorded with the band Kwadrofonik (‘Lutosławski, Tuwim...’) may be of interest to both children and parents. The music is played on two pianos and several dozen instruments, such as marimba, cymbals, xylophone, cajon, udu, kalimba and gongs. She does not shy away from pop (the album ‘Pod rzęsami’), funk (‘Zatrzymaj się’), is inspired by Brazilian music (‘Caminho’ featuring a drummer from São Paulo, as well as “Ale”), likes to sing old Polish songs (the album ‘PIANO.PL’ or the duet ‘Lubię być szczęśliwa’ with Jerzy Wasowski) and loves jazz (the album ‘Nasza Miłość’ recorded with outstanding jazz musicians Piotr Orzechowski ‘Pianohooligan’, Sławomir Kurkiewicz and Michał and Henryk Miśkiewicz).

As an ambassador, she supports the Legal Culture social campaign.

photo: Iza Grzybowska