-  received his Master of Arts from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland in 1977. He completed four years of master studies of Postgraduate Professional Performance Master Course at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester England from 1979 to 1983, under the distinguished tutor Professor Ryszard Bakst, disciple of both Polish and Russian masters’ esthetic school (Konstantin Igumnov and Harry Neuhaus). Mr. Skrzypek is a winner of several piano competitions, as well as laureate of many other awards. In 1982 he was honored with the “Worshipful Company of Musicians of London” medal, awarded for outstanding achievements in piano performance. He has also won several prizes and awards in his native Poland.

As one of the most active Polish pianists, Pawel Skrzypek maintains a rigorous performance schedule. In Poland he often appears as a guest performer with the major philharmonic orchestras and participates in important music festivals. He is also occasionally engaged to play chamber music and collaborates with the renowned Camerata String Quartet. He has performed in most European countries, having been invited to such prestigious halls as the Beethovensaal in Vienna, and in many international music festivals including the International Sintra Festival in Portugal and the International Chopin Festival. His American debut took place in 1990 (Sacramento), Russian debut took place in 1992 (performance for an audience of six thousand in the Main Hall of the Kremlin Palace of Congress in Moscow) and Japanese debut took place in 2003.

Mr. Skrzypek has also performed in Northern Africa (Algeria, Tunisia), Southeast Asia ( Indonesia, Malasia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea) and Canada (British Columbia). Since 1990, he has journeyed regularly to the U.S. to both teach and perform.  He has made a number of archival recordings for the Polish Radio and Television. In addition, he has recorded for the BBC, the Russian State Radio and Television, and many others including the National Public Radio in the United States, which broadcasted his 1993 Austin, Texas recital nationwide.

Mr. Skrzypek’s performances have been praised by numerous reviewers and aficionados. The opinion written by the well-known “Sacramento Bee” critic William Glaskin can be quoted as typical: "The modern world of music seems heavily populated with piano virtuosos. But in his technical brilliance, and even more in the intensity of his physical and emotional approach to the music, and in the power he has to express it, Skrzypek seems truly extraordinary.”

(Read reviews of Pawel Skrzypek from around the world: international and Californian - to read the REVIEWS - click underlined links).

In 1984 Pawel Skrzypek began his teaching career at the Frederic Chopin State School of Music in Warsaw, where he was a chairman of the Piano Department for 14 years (1992-2004) and presently he serves as director of the school. He received his Doctorate in 1992, his Assistant Professor Degree in 1996 and University Professor degree in 2004. Since October 2004 he serves as Professor of Piano at the Warmia-Mazury University in Olsztyn, Poland where he chairs the Piano Studies Department, and starting October 2006 he is going to start a new class as the Professor of Piano at the Frederic Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Poland.

Pawel Skrzypek continues to conduct piano courses in interpretation internationally. His many master classes include Vancouver Academy of Music (Vancouver, British Columbia), Conservatoir di Musica ( Kuala Lumpur, Malasia), Thai Chopin Society  (Bangkok, Thailand), Yayasan Pendidikan Sekolah Music (Jakarta, Indonesia), and several organizations in the United States. Currently, most of his master classes outside of Poland take place in the U.S., on the West Coast, with appearances at the University of California, Davis, California State University, Sacramento, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Chopin Foundation of the U.S. (San Francisco), University of California, (Los Angeles), Snohomish County Piano Teachers’ Association (Everett, Washington), Western and Central Universities of Washington, the Thayer Piano Company School (Honolulu, Hawaii) etc. Expanding his involvement on the West Coast, he founded the Gold Country Piano Institute - one of the leading U.S. international piano courses (Artistic Director) in the historic town of Nevada City, California in 1999. Since the same year he directs one of Poland’s leading piano courses, the Warsaw Piano Workshop, which is held every August at the Frederic Chopin School of Music. Skrzypek’s students regularly win top prizes at piano competitions. He was awarded several prizes for his outstanding achievements in the pedagogical field, among them the prestigious First Class Award of the Polish Ministry of Culture in 1998.

Most recently he was invited to join the Programming Committee of the International Federation of Chopin Societies (December 2004) and he was nominated to be the President EPTA-Poland by the Board of European Piano Teachers Association in London.