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Paweł Czarakcziew

Cellist, chamber musician, and educator, Paweł Czarakcziew made his stage debut at the age of six at the Kraków Philharmonic. Four years later, he performed as a soloist with the Academy of Music in Kraków orchestra under the baton of Stanisław Krawczyński at the Polish Embassy in Paris.

He is a recipient of scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Junior Research Award, which allowed him to conduct research at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles under supervision of prof. Josh Kun.

A graduate of the jazz cello program under Mateusz Pliniewicz, he also earned his degree with honors from the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków in the class of prof. Zdzisław Łapiński. His first teacher was Marta Nowaczyk-Łapińska, who played a key role in shaping his early musical development. He further refined his skills under prof. Julius Berger at the Leopold-Mozart-Zentrum in Augsburg and studied chamber music with Anna Armatys-Borelli, prof. Kaja Danczowska, and Barbara Łypik-Sobaniec.

He has performed across Europe, the United States, and China, appearing on stages in Austria, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. In addition to his classical and chamber music endeavors, Czarakcziew actively explores jazz and improvised music, collaborating on cross-genre projects combining music with dance and theater.

He is a co-founder of the Czarakcziew and the Jazz Cats, Cracow Harp Quintet, ORBITA, and the Czarakcziew/Kowal Duo. Beyond performing, he is actively engaged in cultural organization, serving as the director of the Tynieckie Recitale Kameralne festival and coordinating numerous music events in Poland and abroad.

Czarakcziew and the Jazz Cats: A Tribute to Fred Katz

by Pawel Czarakcziew
May 20, 2025

I've always thought that musicians (if they are sincere), draw from the same source. No matter what genre (classical, jazz, rock) they are in, it's the same well. In my book The Seekers--Meetings with Remarkable Musicians, I write a chapter on Fred Katz, my old college professor and more importantly, the cello player in the Chico Hamilton Jazz Quintet. You heard that correctly --a cello in a jazz setting. My young mind was blown by the way Prof Katz integrated ...