Katarzyna Smolarek 

 

Classical guitar

Austria

Katarzyna Smolarek was born in 1995 and started playing the guitar at the age of 8. Currently, she is a student of the acclaimed University Mozarteum in Salzburg in the class of professor Marco Diaz-Tamayo. In spite of her young age she's been awarded over 20 prizes at national and international competitions. In 2017 she was awarded the second prize in Concurso Musical Dr. Luis Sigall in Chile and in 2018 also second in Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra Classica “Michele Pittaluga” in Italy the only two guitar competitions that are part of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.

She has participated in various guitar festivals giving concerts (solo and with orchestra), teaching masterclasses and being a member of the jury. She performed in many European countries (Poland, Romania, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, the Netherlands) as well as in Chile and Australia.

She is currently a member of the EuroStrings Artists platform 2018/1019 - a programme for young talented guitarists.

Prizes (among others):

- II prize at the 51st Michele Pittaluga International Guitar Competition en Alessandria (Italy) in 2018
- II prize at the  Concurso Musical Dr. Luis Sigall (Chile) in 2017
- I prize at the Sanremo International Guitar Festival (Italy) in 2017
- I prize at the  Sinaia Guitar Competition (Romania) in 2017
- I prize at the Sydney Eistedfodd Guitar Competition (Australia) in 2016
- II prize at the Salzburg Guitar Fest Competition in 2017
- II prize at the International Young Talents Competition in Uppsala (Sweden) in 2018
- II prize at the International Guitar Competition "Cithara Ignea" in Żory (Polonia) in 2016
- II prize at the L. Luthier Contest in Bratislava (Slovakia) in 2016