Piotr Anderszewski is one of the world's most brilliant contemporary pianists. The Independent called him "breathtaking and unforgettable" and the Daily Telegraph has praised the "intellectual power, profound emotional response and keen imagination that his playing conveys... Anderszewski’s remarkable ear for tonal shading and nuance is absorbingly to the fore". He has performed at London's Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg and Munich's Herkulessaal. His has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Münchener Philharmoniker, Deutche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Concertgebouw, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Sinfonia Varsovia.
He has been recording on the Virgin label (currently - Warner Classics/Erato) since 2000, releasing several prize-winning albums, such as Beethoven's Diabelli Variations which won the Choc du Monde de la Musique and an ECHO Klassik award. His recording of Bach's Partitas 1, 3 and 6 was nominated for a Grammy in 2001. His recording of the works of Szymanowski that won the Classic FM Gramophone Award in 2006 for Best Instrumental Disc and received a Grammy nomination the previous year. His latest recording of Schumann's works also won the ECHO Klassic award in 2011 before taking home two BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2012.
Anderszewski began to study piano at the age of six and subsequently attended conservatories in Lyon and Strasbourg, the Academy of Music in Warsaw, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He further honed his skills in Italy, in a series of master classes lead by Fou Ts'ong, Murray Perahi, and Leon Fleisher. His execution of the 33 Diabelli Variations in C-major by Ludwig van Beethoven at the International Piano Competition in Leeds in 1990 opened the door to his professional debut at Wigmore Hall in London, and subsequently to an international career. He has given concerts in England (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra), Ireland, Germany (series of Beethoven concerts with the Münchener Philharmoniker in 1996), France, Austria, Portugal, Italy, and in Poland. In 2001 in Paris he performed the 4th Sinfonia Concertante of Karol Szymanowski under the direction of Charles Dutoit. His repertoire also includes the Metopes, Masks, 3rd Piano Sonata, and Mazurkas of this composer.
Piotr Anderszewski has performed chamber music with Victoria Mullova, with whom he has recorded three albums for the Philips label (the sonatas of Johannes Brahms, Leos Janácek, and Serge Prokofiev), as well as with Andrzej Bauer and his sister Dorota, a violinist. His album containing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Anton Webern, recorded for the CD Accord label, was enthusiastically received by critics and won the pianist the "Fryderyk '96" Polish Recording Industry Award. In 1999 the Harmonia Mundi label released an album with Anderszewski's recordings of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2000 Anderszewski received the Karol Szymanowski Award. In 2015 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He has been living abroad, primarily in Paris since 1990.
Piotr Anderszewski took his first steps towards an international career in 1990 at the Leeds Piano Competition, though in fact he did not fare well in that contest. At this unusually prestigious event, comparable to Poland's Chopin Competition, he failed to win any prize but succeeded in garnering attention with his semi-final performance of the unusually difficult cycle of Beethoven's 33 Diabelli Variations. "All other sonatas seem banal compared to this one," said Anderszewski, and Beethoven's Variations would become a permanent companion to the pianist throughout his career, up to the present time. Following the competition, the Teldec company approached Anderszewski about recording the work, but insisted on a studio recording. This was not in line with the pianist's plans. In an interview with recording and broadcasting industry magazine Studio in 1997, Anderszewski stated:
Recording in a studio is too analytical a process, too repetitive; it's a cold and calculated way of dismantling a piece into its component parts, followed by a cold synthesis of the work. It's a different artistic discipline, and entirely different vocation.