Paweł Chęciński is a Polish pianist, b. in Łódź. He settled in the USA in 1971.
Born in Lodz, Poland, Pawel Checinski (Pah-vel Hen-chin-ski) began piano studies at the age of six. He completed his elementary and intermediate education in schools for the musically gifted. At the Music Academy in Warsaw, he studied with two of Poland’s most renowned pedagogues, Zbigniew Drzewiecki and Ryszard Bakst, and received the Master of Arts degree with honors. In l971 Checinski was awarded a Fulbright Grant by the U.S. Department of State to continue his studies at the Juilliard School where he earned both a Master of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree under Mieczyslaw Munz. He also studied with Leon Fleisher and Aube Tzerko. For several years he worked extensively under the guidance of his mentor Claudio Arrau.
Successful in numerous international competitions, Checinski received a special award in the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw and was a prize winner in the Smetana International Competition in Czechoslovakia and the International Piano Competition in Sydney, Australia. He won first prize at the National Competition for Music of the Classic Era that was held in Poland. In l972 Checinski won the Concert Artists Guild Annual Auditions in New York and the Temple University Music Festival Concerto Competition in Pennsylvania. Additional awards include the Rachmaninov Prize at the Second International Competition of Guanabara in Rio de Janeiro and the Ravel Centennial Medal at the first Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland. He has been praised for his incisive interpretations of contemporary Polish music, particularly that of Karol Szymanowski, for which he received the Szymanowski Medal from Poland.
He made his first major appearance outside of Poland at the Moscow Conservatory. His reputation as an outstanding and highly original interpreter of the music of Chopin secured his premiere performance in the West, which took place at the Wigmore Hall in London, England. His U.S. debut occurred at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, which led to performances in places such as Lincoln Center in New York, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre and Orchestra Hall.
He was a featured artist on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago and on the Phillips Collection recital series in Washington, D.C. Checinski performed an all Szymanowski concert as New York’s celebration of the centennial of the composer’s birth and a commemorative recital featuring works written for and dedicated to Artur Rubinstein. As a featured soloist he performed at the inaugural concert of Chicago’s “Symphony II” orchestra. He performed what is believed to be the Chicago premiere of Chopin’s Fantasy on Polish Airs with orchestra. In 2005 he appeared at Orchestra Hall to once again bring Chopin’s Fantasy to the Chicago concert stage.
An influential teacher, Checinski’s teaching history includes positions at the Pennsylvania State University, the University of British Columbia, Columbia College (SC), and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (Artist-in-Residence). He has conducted master classes in the United States, Poland, Canada, and across Asia.
Pawel Checinski has frequently performed recitals devoted entirely to the music of one composer. These recitals presented the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Ravel, Scriabin, Szymanowski, and Prokofiev. He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras. His repertoire with orchestra includes Beethoven’s five piano concerti, all of Chopin’s works for piano and orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Szymanowski’s Symphonie Concertante, and other concerti of many composers.
Checinski’s extensive performing career has spanned five continents including the countries of Poland, Hungary, England, Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Soviet Union, Brazil, Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, the Republic of China, Canada, and the United States. This international exposure has afforded him with what he considers to be the invaluable opportunity of communicating with people of diverse national and cultural backgrounds through his music.
He was trained under Ryszard Bakst, Zbigniew Drzewiecki (Warsaw Higher State School of Music), Mieczysław Munz and Leon Fleisher (Juilliard School). His Western debut was at the Wigmore Hall. Chęciński won the 1972 Concert Artists Guild Annual Auditions and the Temple University Music Festival Concerto Competition in Pennsylvania, and was prized at the inaugural editions of the Robert Casadesus Competition and the Sydney Competition.
He has widely performed both in the American concert scene and abroad, and has taught at the Pennsylvania State University, the University of British Columbia and the Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he served as the institution's artist-in-residence. He is a recipient of the Karol Szymanowski Medal.