Current position: Piano, Harpsihord and Organ: Chair of Piano: Professor Elżbieta Tarnawska
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Prof. Elżbieta Tarnawska
Prof. Elzbieta Tarnawska

Professor Elzbieta Tarnawska

Prorector for Foreign Cooperation and Student Affairs

She is a finalist of the 9th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1975 and a laureate of the International M. Long-J. Thibaud Competition in Paris in 1977.
She studied in the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Prof. L. Umanskaja and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in the class of Prof. Regina Smendzianka.
Postgraduate studies at the University of Maryland, USA, in the class of Prof. Dr. Nelita True.
With Prof. Regina Smendzianka at
the Warsaw Music Academy, 1973		With Prof. Wiktor Mierzhanow
in the Wrocław Philharmonic Hall,2002


Prof. Elżbieta Tarnawska performed recitals as well as concerts with orchestras in all Philharmonic Halls in Poland. She gave concerts in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Cuba and the United States.

Her most highly acclaimed concerts in the United States include performances in the following places:

  • The American University in Washington D.C.
  • The Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore
  • University of Maryland
  • Iowa State University
  • Georgia State University
  • The Catholic University in Washington D.C.
  • Utica University in New York State
  • William Paterson College in New Jersey
  • Seton Hall University in New Jersey
  • Hamilton College in New York State
  • Jersey City State College in New Jersey
  • The Lyceum- Alexandria Recital Series in Virginia
  • The Dumbarton Concert Series in Washington D.C.
  • The Strathmore Hall Arts Center in Washington D.C.
  • The Polish Embassy in Washington D.C.
  • The Polish Consulate in New York City
  • The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City
  • The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in New York City

Concert conducted by maestro Tadeusz
Strugała during the Chopin Festival
in Duszniki Zdrój, 1978.



The "Chopin in the colors of autumn" Festival,
Antonin 1991
Upon her return to Poland in 1992 she embarked on a career in teaching, while continuing to give concerts. She often performed and gave lectures as well as master classes in music schools.

Prof. Elżbieta Tarnawska took part in many festivals, including the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój, the Liszt Festival at the Catholic University in Washington D.C., The F. Chopin Festival in Karlove Vary and Marianske Lazne, in the International Laureates' Festival in Warsaw and Katowice, in the Mozart Festival at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and in the Internatonal Festival "Chopin in the Colors of Autumn" in Antonin.

She performed under the baton of the following conductors: Jerzy Katlewicz, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Antoni Wit, Bogusław Madey, Tadeusz Strugała, Andrzej Markowski, Tomasz Bugaj, Marek Pijarowski, Józef Wiłkomirski, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Zygmunt Rychert, Jerzy Salwarowski, Jerzy Swoboda, Stefan Marczyk, Witold Krzemiński, Zdzisław Szostak, Adam Natanek, Szymon Kawalla, Ryszard Dudek, Stefan Strahl, Karol Andbild, Zbigniew Goncerzewicz.

The pianist has also been active in other fields, such as:
- recording CDs and making archival radio and TV recordings;
- writing and presenting music programs for the Polish Public Television, (years 1976- 1977);
- participating as a juror in many piano competitions in Poland, the Ukraine and in several editions of the International Chopin Competition in New York.
The Jury of the Piano Competition in Kharkhov, 2002The Jury of the Youth Piano Competition, 2002


Prof. Elżbieta Tarnawska has been working at the Chopin Music Academy since 1993 as a professor at the Department of Piano, Harpsichord and Organ, and currently, as Prorector for Foreign Cooperation and Student Affairs.
Professor Elżbieta Tarnawska is vice-president of the Council for Artistic Education at the Ministry of Culture.






Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music