Dr. Wojciech Kocyan was
born in Poland. He studied piano with Krystyna Moszynska in Gliwice and
with the renowned Professor Andrzej Jasinski at the Karol Szymanowski
Academy of Music in Katowice, from which he graduated with the highest
honors. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
University of Southern California where he studied with Master Teacher
John Perry. Dr. Kocyan serves on the faculty of Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles. Mr. Kocyan is the First Prize and Special
Prizes winner of the Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz and a
laureate of several international piano competitions, including the
Busoni in Bolzano, Viotti in Vercelli, and Bellini in Sicily as well as
of the Wideman Piano Competition in United States. He has received
special prizes at the XI Chopin International Piano Competition in
Warsaw and awards from the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Poland
and from the Barbara Piasecka-Johnson Cultural Foundation. His concerts
have taken him to all continents. He has performed in solo recitals,
chamber music and with orchestras. He has participated in music
festivals such as Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis, Capri Festival,
Bydgoszcz International Music Festival, H.M.Gorecki Festival, Paderewski
Festival and the Chopin Festival in Paris. He was honored to be the
final gala concert soloist of the Festival of Polish Pianism, and
performed the Paderewski Piano Concerto with Maestro Jerzy Maksymiuk at
the opening concert of the Fourth International Paderewski Piano
Competition. Mr. Kocyan has recorded for the Hungarian Radio and Polish
Radio, Television and film. His live performances were broadcast in the
United States, Poland, France and Australia. His recordings of music by
Schumann can be found on the Studio Classics label. His chamber music CD
Hommage a Carlos Guastavino
with clarinetist Jan Jakub Bokun was released in 2001 on the DUX label.
A solo CD with works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofieff ,
released on the same label in October 2002, was nominated for the
Fryderyk Awards in the Best Solo Album of the Year category. The
Fryderyk Awards are a prestigious Polish Recording Academy Award,
similar to the Grammy Awards. His recording of Liszt, Schumann, Mompou
and Saya will be released by Dux this year.