He was born on 30 October 2006 in Vienna – a small town in Virginia, USA. His parents are of Polish descent, and music has long been part of the household: his older brother, Tomasz, is studying harpsichord at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, while his younger sister, Evelina, is also finding success as a pianist. At the age of five, Antoni decided to follow in his siblings’ footsteps and began studying the piano.
He first studied privately with Anna Ouspenskaya, later continuing under the guidance of Martin Labazevitch – initially at the Levine School of Music and later in Washington, D.C., where he received private lessons as a scholarship holder of the Chopin Foundation of the United States. Kłeczek graduated from secondary school with distinction and, in 2025, plans to begin his studies in the class of Professor Piotr Paleczny at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
He will enter the academic year on a high note. At just 18 years old, he has qualified for the first stage of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition as one of 13 Polish participants. As he admits, the music of the Polish composer helps him stay connected to his second homeland – perhaps explaining why he returns to it so often. In 2025, he took part in both the 11th National Chopin Piano Competition in Miami and the 53rd National Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, both considered a prelude to the ‘main’ Chopin Competition. In Miami he reached the semi-finals, and in Warsaw he shared third prize with Julia Łozowska. His appearance there was reviewed by Paweł Wołowicz in Ruch Muzyczny, who wrote:
‘Antoni Kłeczek [...] delivered a rousing performance of the Polonaise in A-flat major, op. 53, at the winners’ concert. He is a pianist of great potential, which he also demonstrated through a fiery interpretation of the F minor Concerto, op. 21. His playing was marked by youthful freshness, drama and passion (which at times could benefit from some restraint), and on the visual front – an excess of theatricality, which I’m personally less fond of.Nonetheless, the persuasiveness and sincerity of his playing, along with his sensitivity to sound quality, earned my admiration’.
