Mateusz Pałka – Polish jazz pianist, composer, educator. A graduate with honors from the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Cracow. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and distinctions at both international and national music festivals. He collaborates with renowned artists from the Polish and European jazz scenes. Pałka’s performances captivate with their maturity, subtlety, professional technique, and meticulous attention to every sound. His piano style is imbued with the spirit of Impressionism and Romanticism, and his music radiates with a palette of refined sounds, rich color, and boundless space, where the continuous search for beauty, sensuality, and expression coexist. Since 2020 a PhD student at the Doctoral School of the Academy of Music in Cracow, and since 2023 a piano teacher at the The Fryderyk Chopin State General Secondary Music School of the Second Degree in Cracow.
Pałka is involved in projects such as the Mateusz Pałka Trio, Heartbeats, Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika Quartet, and Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika Duo. He also composes and performs music for films. He has performed in numerous European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Russia, and Croatia.
Throughout his career, he has performed at prestigious music festivals in Poland and abroad, such as SamFest Jazz Festival, Ni Ca Jazz Festival, Fara Music Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Hevhetia Festival, Jazz at Philharmonic – Kaliningrad, the 44th International Festival of Jazz Pianists in Kalisz, Jazz Juniors, Transatlantyk Festival, Jazzinec Festival, Jazzbit Festival in Prague, Palm Jazz Festival, Art. Air Center Festival, the Summer Festival of Piwnica pod Baranami in Cracow, Legnica Jazz Days, Silesian Jazz Festival, Krakowskie Zaduszki Jazzowe, Jazz nad Nilem, Jazz na Kresach, Jazztochowa, Starzy i Młodzi czyli Jazz w Krakowie, Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, the Silent Cinema Festival in Cracow and Warsaw, and many others.
He has participated in numerous masterclasses in Poland and abroad, conducted by masters such as Chick Corea, Gerald Clayton, Enrico Pieranunzi, Dave Kikoski, Kenny Garrett, Chuck Israels, Ben Street, Ed Cherry, David Liebman, Eddie Henderson, Paolo Birro, and Carlo Morena.
Discography:
Margo Zuber – Cisza (SJ Records 2024) as guest
Mateusz Pałka Trio – Melodies. The Magic Mountain (Agencja Muzyczna Polskiego Radia, Dwójka Program Drugi Polskiego Radia, Polskie Radio 2023)
85 lat Dwójki – Album celebrating 85 years of Dwójka, Heartbeats (Polskie Radio, Agencja Muzyczna Polskiego Radia, Dwójka 2022) as guest
Madame Jean Pierre – Tuli (Soliton 2022) as guest
Mateusz Pałka – Blur (Echo Production 2021)
Heartbeats – Cracow Jazz Hub (IG Group/Szymon Mika 2021)
Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika Duo – Short Form (Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika 2019)
Wojciech Lichtański Questions – Iga (Audio Cave 2019) as guest
Szymon Mika Trio & Guests – Togetherness (Hevhetia 2018) as guest
Mateusz Pałka Trio – Sansa (Emme Record Label 2017)
Jazz Juniors – 40 Years of Jazz Juniors (Fundacja Muzyki Filmowej i Jazzowej 2016)
Blue Note Poznań Competition – 2016 (Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Muzycznych Blue Note 2016)
Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika Quartet – Popyt (SJ Records 2015)
Awards:
Grand Prix, First Award – Creative Scholarship “Nadzieja Polskiego Jazzu 2024” from Krakowskie Zaduszki Jazzowe, PZU (2024)
Creative Scholarship from the “Grazella” Foundation named after Anna Maria Siemieńska at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow (2019)
Creative Scholarship from the My Polish Heart Foundation (2019)
First Prize/Grand Prix at the Azoty International Jazz Contest (2013) with the Pałka/Mika Quartet
Second Prize with the Mateusz Pałka Trio at the 40th International Jazz Festival Jazz Juniors in Cracow (2016)
Second Prize with the S.O.T.A. band at the International Blue Note Poznań Competition (2016)
Second Prize with the Małgorzata Zuber Quartet at the International Krokus Jazz Festival (2016)
Third Prize with the S.O.T.A. band at the 40th International Jazz Festival Jazz Juniors in Cracow (2016)
Finalist at Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa with the Mateusz Pałka/Szymon Mika Quartet (2015)