Violinist, jazz vocalist, composer, songwriter and arranger. Born on September 12, 1973, in Warsaw.
Dorota Miśkiewicz was exposed to jazz from a young age; her father, Henryk Miśkiewicz, is a famous jazz saxophonist, and her brother Michał is a percussionist with the Tomasz Stańko Quartet. Dorota graduated from the Academy of Music in Warsaw in 1997, where she studied violin. However, she had already started making her first studio and television recordings when she was in secondary school.
In 1994 she came in second in the International Jazz Vocalist Meetings in Zamość competition, and later that year she became a member of the Włodzimierz Nahorny Sextet, with whom she recorded four albums as a vocalist and violinist. She began recording music for theatre along with trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, working on the plays Roberto Zucco (directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski) and Kaligula (directed by Andrzej Dziuk). In 1998 violinist Nigel Kennedy invited her to perform with him in joint concerts, and in 2002 she started collaborating with Ewa Bem, for whom she wrote lyrics, sang and arranged choral performances. Anna Maria Jopek invited her to work on all her projects for which she needed vocal support.
In 2002 Miśkiewicz recorded her own album, Zatrzymaj się, with the band Dorota Goes to Heaven. The band was nominated for the Fryderyk Prize (known as the "Polish Grammy") in the category "Jazz Album of the Year", and Dorota herself was nominated for the "New Hope" award by the jazz society "Melomani". In 2004 she qualified to play in the "Premieres" concert at the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and the following year she took part in recording the soundtrack for the TV series Boża podszewka by Izabela Cywińska. In 2006 she recorded the album Nieszpory to commemorate the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death, and collaborated on a project with vocalist Cesaria Evora. She has also performed at the Słowacki Theatre in Cracow in a prestigious concert with saxophonists Henryk Miśkiewicz and David Murray, and has appeared in-concert with the famous Basque accordionist Kep Junker.
Miśkiewicz has worked with a number of well-known musicians, including Klaus Doldinger, Janusz Strobel, Wojciech Młynarski and Krzysztof Popek. She has performed in Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Italy, China, South Korea, Algeria, Ukraine and Lithuania.
Projects:
- Dorota Goes to Heaven
Dorota Miśkiewicz - vocal
Marek Napiórkowski - guitar
Michał Tokaj-Rhodes - piano
Robert Kubiszyn / Adam "Szabas" Kowalewski - bass guitar
Łukasz Żyta - drums, percussion
Selected discography:
- Dorota Miśkiewicz Goes to Heaven "Zatrzymaj się" (2000)
- Dorota Miśkiewicz "Pod rzęsami" (Sony BMG Poland, 2005)
- Dorota Miśkiewicz "Caminho" (Sony BMG8, 2008)
Opinions:
- on Dorota Miśkiewicz Goes to Heaven "Zatrzymaj się"
"What we have here is beautiful funk rhythm, a lot of energetic phrasing in the r&b tradition, soulful vocals and an excellent jazz foundation...on the one hand it has artistic sophistication, on the other hand dance communication(...)"(Piotr Iwicki, Olaf Szewczyk; Gazeta Wyborcza, Stołeczna; July 6th-7th, 2002).
Author: Marek Romański, January 2009