Katarzyna Mycka

Besides her years of study at the music academies in Gdansk, Stuttgart and Salzburg, where she graduated with honors, Katarzyna's artistic development has been documented by numerous prizes at international competitions.

Katarzyna gained world recognition early on with first prizes at international competitions: in 1995 she won the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition - winning the audience prize there as well - and in 1996, she won the First World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart.

She has been successful at other percussion competitions, winning First Prize at the 1991 Polish Percussion Competition in Opole and being awarded a special prize in the form of a stipend for foreign study at the 1992 "Concours International d'Exécution Musicale" in Geneva. Katarzyna was also a finalist at the 1997 ARD Competition in Munich.

During the same year, Katarzyna appeared as soloist at the First Marimba Festival in Osaka/ Japan and at the International Marimba Festival in Linz/Austria (2004). She is a guest soloist with many orchestras, including the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Bejing Symphony Orchestra, Bochum Symphony, Camerata Israeli, WKO Heilbronn, Vanderbilt University Orchestra and with many Philharmonic Orchestras in Poland.

After having been awarded the honor of "Ambassadress of Polish Percussive Arts" by the Polish Percussive Arts Society in 1999, a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Artistic Foundation followed, as well as invitations to perform in concerts and give master classes in the U.S.A., Germany, Poland, Japan, China, Mexico, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Switzerland. Katarzyna made her American debut at the International Percussion Festival PASIC 1997 in Anaheim (LA).

Meanwhile, Katarzyna has been called upon to serve on the juries of international percussion competitions. In 1999 and 2002 she was a member of the jury of the International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg, in 2000 at the First Polish Marimba Competition in Warsaw, in 2001 at the Percussion Competition in Ostrava/CZ, 2004 at Federal German Competition Jugend Musiziert in Villingen and International Percussion Competition in Pleven/BL.

Since 2006, Katarzyna has been teaching marimba at the Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan, Poland.

The following clip is from the Two-Part Invention for Two Marimbas composed by Michal Biedrzycki. It was performed by Katarzyna Mycka and Franz Bach at the Haigst Church in Stuttgart, January 6, 2008.