Katarzyna Wasiak was born in Zielona Góra and comes from a family of musicians.
In 2002, at the age of 17, she began her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, initially in the class of Prof. Oleg Maisenberg and later with Prof. Wolfgang Watzinger. In 2006, she continued her education at the Berlin University of the Arts under Prof. Jacques Rouvier, earning her artistic diploma in 2009. She then completed her master's degree in performance at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin under Prof. Fabio Bidini and further complemented her artistic studies with a pedagogical diploma. She is also a qualified cultural manager.
Katarzyna Wasiak is a laureate of numerous piano competitions, including those in Dallas (USA), Vanves (France), and Villa de Capdepera (Spain). She has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture, the Prime Minister of Poland, and the Chopin Society. She is also a recipient of the Crescendum Est–Polonia Foundation scholarship and the Viadrina Rotary Club scholarship.
She is particularly committed to co-creating new historical contexts through consciously curated projects focused on the Polish-Jewish cultural heritage of the 20th century. These aspects of her artistic and cultural management work led to the founding of the association LIMBO KOLLEKTIV e.V. and a joint performance with soprano Ania Vegry in the German Bundestag on the occasion of the 75th anniversary commemorating the victims of Nazism.
Katarzyna Wasiak has been a guest at renowned European festivals such as the Carinthian Summer, Arsonore Music Festival Graz, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and Messiaen Days in Görlitz. She has participated in recordings for Polish, German, and Austrian radio as well as for the labels DUX, Anagram, RecArt, and eda records. She also appeared on the TV station Arte in the Europe@Home production alongside violinist Daniel Hope.
The recording Mieczysław Weinberg – Chamber Music (Anagram Records), together with violinist Robert Kowalski and the Noga Quartet, was recognized as the best chamber music recording of 2020 and awarded the Clef d’or by the French magazine ResMusica. In March 2021, a CD featuring all of Simon Laks’ songs with soprano Ania Vegry (eda records) was released and named CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine. A recording of works by the lesser-known composer Hans Gál, with violist Magdalena Tchorzewska, was released in July 2022 and received the Supersonic Award from the Luxembourg music magazine Pizzicato.
As part of her projects, the pianist performs with renowned orchestras such as the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine. She has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Michail Jurowski, Nikolai Diadiura, Jerzy Swoboda, Jan Krenz, as well as Daniel Hope, Benjamin Schmid, Sayako Kusaka, Thomas Selditz, Felix Schwartz, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Agata Szymczewska, Clemens Hagen, and Andreas Greger.
The pianist also participates in and initiates interdisciplinary projects, including experimental music theatre and alternative arrangements of classical works, which explore different modes of musical expression—such as those presented within the activities of the Barefacedbody Ensemble. She has found much inspiration in collaborations with film legends such as director Rosa von Praunheim in the production of Männerfreundschaften and actor/singer Dominique Horwitz.
At the invitation of Vladimir Jurowski, Chief Conductor of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, she took part in a new 2024 production of Mieczysław Weinberg’s opera The Passenger as a répétiteur and Polish language coach.
As of October 2025, she will begin teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Zielona Góra.
Photo: Krzysztof Zieliński
