Biography

Marek Stefański – organist, teacher, animator of musical life. Born in 1969 in Rzeszów, he graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków in the organ class of professor Joachim Grubich, receiving a diploma with honors in 1994. He began his concert activity at the beginning of his studies, performing twice as an organist-soloist with the Krakow Academic Choir Organum on a concert tour covering most European countries.

Successful concerts at international sacred and organ music festivals as well as the awards he received (including 1st prize in the European Forum d'Art Sacre) opened the way for him to participate in most Polish and foreign music festivals. In 1996 he was appointed organist at St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków. He performed this function on a full-time basis until 2007.

He has been working at the Organ Department of the Academy of Music in Krakow since 1999, currently as an assistant professor. In 2007, he defended his doctoral dissertation at his alma mater, devoted to the styles of improvisation in organ music from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. In 2013, on the basis of a research dissertation and a CD monograph devoted to organ music by Krakow composers of the second half of the 20th century, he was awarded the title of habilitated doctor at the Academy of Music in Krakow.

Marek Stefański has so far performed in most European countries, in North and South America and Israel. He is regularly invited to concerts in Russia, where he has become one of the most famous foreign organists. He is a distinguished promoter of Polish organ music, especially of the 20th century, which he performs in parallel with the art of organ improvisation. His participation included world premieres of works by contemporary Polish composers, which were then recorded as archival recordings.

He has also made numerous recordings for the Polish Radio, Polish Television and foreign radio stations, as well as recordings for the Polish record labels DUX, Musicon, Ars Sonora, Fanfara and the Moscow-based Art Bene. After being nominated for the Fryderyk Music Award, in 2006 he became a member of the Polish Phonographic Academy. Apart from his solo concert activities, he collaborates with numerous choir ensembles as well as outstanding vocalists and instrumentalists.

In the years 2010/2011, together with Radio Krakow, he made a series of programs called "Antologia Organów Krakowa". Together with Radio Rzeszów, he presented the sound of valuable organs of Podkarpacie on the radio. In May 2016, as the only European, he represented the Old Continent during the "5 continents – 5 organists" festival in Seoul, South Korea. He has participated in the jury of international organ competitions in Poland, Germany, Luxembourg and Russia.

He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Podkarpackie Organ Festival and the Spring Days with Organ Music in the Jesuit Basilica in Krakow, the originator and co-author of the series of conversations "Hidden sacrum" presented on Radio Krakow from September 2017.

Since 2017, he has been the Vice President of the ARS PRO ARTE Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and Art (www.arsproarte.pl). In 2019, the PETRUS Publishing House published the book "Organs on the Ends of the World – Marek Stefański in an interview with Mateusz Borkowski", which was honored with the Krakow Book of the Month. He is the creator of the biographical novel Heritage Dziedzictwo about professor Bronisław Rutkowski – founder of the Polish organ school.