The Grand Prix de Chartes has been taking place since 1971 in Paris's Notre-Dame de Chartes cathedral. Pierre Cochereau, the founder of the competition, was an accomplished organist, improviser, composer, and teacher.
Karol Mossakowski was born in 1990 into a musical family. He began piano and organ lessons at age 3 under the watchful eye of his father. After graduating high school Mossakowski continued his education in Poznań's Akademia Muzyczna im. Paderewskiego (the Jan Paderewski Academy of Music) in the classes of Elżbieta Karolak and Jarosław Tarnawski. In 2011 he further continued his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard. Since 2013 he's studied improvisation with Thierry Escaich and Philippe Bouvard and harmony with Fabien Waksman.
In 2010 Mossakowski won the 4th International Feliks Nowowiejski Organ Competition in Poznań. In 2013 he received first prize in the well-known Springtime International Competition in Prague. That victory opened new doors in his career, and he received invitations from many different orchestras and international festivals around the world, including in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Great Britain, and France, as well as his native Poland. In April 2014 he recorded Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s and Charles Marie Widor’s works for Czech radio. In 2015 Mossakowski became artist-in-residence of the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, King of France. He has also given several concerts as a soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Written by: Filip Lech 05 September 2016, translated by: Jerzy Oleksiak 2016.05.09