Marianna Bednarska
Percussion

Marianna Bednarska is a young Polish percussionist who runs an active artistic career not only as a soloist, but also as a chamber music performer, orchestral musician and percussion teacher. She is regularly invited to international music festivals and cooperates with recognised personalities of the musical world.

Bednarska won the 2^nd Prize at the Geneva International Music Competition 2019, and was winner of the Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes 2019 as well as 24 First Prizes and Special Prizes at international percussion competitions, including in Chicago, Bamberg, Paris, Fermo, Plovdiv etc. She was also a finalist in the national stage of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition in 2009.

Bednarska has performed as a soloist in Europe, the USA and Asia at international music festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Davos Festival, SOLsberg Festival and Weiwuying International Music Festival, and with orchestras such as Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin, Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, International Chamber Orchestra of Washington, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Poznań Philharmonic and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2014, at the invitation of the renowned Danish composer Anders Koppel, Bednarska was the first percussionist in history to record the complete set of Koppel’s marimba concertos, and released it as her début album Marimba Concertos on Dacapo Records, which received extremely positive reviews on The New York Times, Gramophone and Deutschlandfunk. As a soloist, she also took part in recordings for the Bayerischer Rundfunk, National Institute of Music and Dance in Poland, and PWM Edition in the “100 for 100: Musical Decades of Freedom” project, which was honoured with the Fryderyk Award from the Polish Phonographic Academy in two categories.

In 2013, Bednarska received the Polish-Danish Friendship Award for her unique artistic activity connecting both countries. In 2017, she was a nominee in the “Début of the Year” category of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award.

Bednarska began her musical studies with the piano, which was soon replaced by classical percussion instruments. After graduating with honours from the Karol Szymanowski State Music School in Warsaw, she obtained with highest marks a bachelor’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, and a master’s degree from the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where she also completed postgraduate studies in 2021.

From 2023, Bednarska has been holding a teaching position at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Since 2024, she has been the Artistic Director of the International Marimba Festiva Meetings at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Centre in Lusławice. She is a Yamaha Artist and Kolberg Mallet Artist.