Bio

Dr. Piotr Schmidt, born in 1985, is a jazz trumpeter, music producer, band leader, publisher, assistant professor at the Jazz Department of the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa, and a former lecturer for 10 years at the Jazz Department of the Academy of Music in Katowice.

He is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Katowice, where he received his doctorate in musical arts in June 2016. Piotr Schmidt is one of the top trumpeters in Polish jazz.

Schmidt was a scholarship recipient at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, in 2006, and during his debut period from 2006 to 2010, he won many individual awards and Grand Prix, including:

Individual Award at "Jazz nad Odrą" 2008
Individual Award at "I'st Tarnów Jazz Contest" 2008
Individual Award at "Jazz nad Odrą" 2009
Third place at "Zmaganiach Jazzowych" in Szczecin, 2008
Grand Prix at "III Novum Jazz Festival" in Łomża, 2010
Best Soloist Award at Getxo Jazz Festival, Spain 2010
Award from the Mayor of Gliwice for achievements in artistic creativity, dissemination, and protection of culture (2012)
Minister of Culture and National Heritage Commemorative Award (2013)

Piotr Schmidt's band awards include:

Grand Prix at XXX International Jazz Junior Bands Festival "Jazz Juniors", Kraków 2006
Grand Prix at "I'st Tarnów Jazz Contest", Tarnów 2008
Grand Prix at "Krokus Jazz Festival", Jelenia Góra, 2008
Grand Prix at "XII Ogólnopolski Przegląd Młodych Zespołów Jazzowych i Bluesowych", Gdynia 2009
Second place at Hoeilaart Jazz Festival, Belgium 2010
Grand Prix and Audience Award at Getxo Jazz Festival, Spain 2010

Piotr Schmidt has released 16 albums under his own name. Since 2011, he has been regularly ranked in the Top Trumpeter of the Year category in the Jazz Top survey conducted by Jazz Forum magazine.

He has collaborated with artists such as Kuba Badach, Ewa Bem, Krystyna Prońko, Ten Typ Mes, Miuosh, Walter Smith III, Matthew Stevens, Alex Hutchings, Ernesto Simpson, Harish Raghavan, Jonathan Barber, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Włodzimierz Nahorny, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Wojciech Karolak, Maciej Sikała, Wiesław Pieregorólka, Grzech Piotrowski, Wojciech Niedziela, Jacek Niedziela-Meira, Marcin Jahr, Mariusz Bogdanowicz, Wojciech Myrczek, Apostolis Anthimos, Marek Napiórkowski, Dominik Wania, Paweł Kaczmarczyk, Paweł Tomaszewski, and Michał Barański.

Piotr Schmidt is also the artistic director of the SJRecords label, which has released over 74 highly acclaimed albums by various artists since 2011 - www.sjrecords.eu.

On March 3rd, Piotr Schmidt became the new CEO of the Silesian Jazz Club Music Association. The oldest continuously operating jazz association in Poland is involved in organizing concerts and festivals in Silesia and beyond.

More about the Association at www.sjc.pl.