Mariusz Klimsiak has been the laureate of the 3rd Competition of the 20th Century Music in Warsaw, the Festival for Young Musicians in Gdańsk, the 3rd all-Polish F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and the International Piano Festival in Sanok. He has graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz under Professor Jerzy Sulikowski. Mariusz Klimsiak has also furthered his education at courses supervised by Ewa Pobłocka, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Naum Starkmann, Aleksjej Orłowiecki, Viera Nossina and Dang Thai Son.
As a soloist and chamber musician he played in many philharmonic halls in Poland (e. g. Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław) and participated in numerous music festivals: Łańcuch IV (the Chain Festival) in Warsaw, the Forum Musicum Festival in Wrocław, the Lutosławski Forum Festival in Warsaw, the Festival of Polish Pianism in Słupsk, the International Bach Festival in Świdnica as well as in artistic events abroad: e.g. Italy (Florence), Spain (Alicante), the USA (Seattle, San Francisco). The artist toured Germany with the Lower Silesian Philharmonic under Jerzy Swoboda.
His stylistically diverse repertoire features both baroque pieces and contemporary compositions. The artist has performed concertos ranging from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Brahms to the 20th century classics (including Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 3, Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3 as well as Stravinsky’s, Shostakovich’s and Lutosławski’s concertos). Besides performing crucial piano compositions (Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Op. 106, Op. 111, Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, Chopin’s Sonata in B minor, Brahms’ Sonata in F minor) his solo repertoire includes also infrequently performed compositions, such as Hindemith’s Sonata No. 3 or Berg’s Sonata.
Mariusz Klimsiak performs willingly chamber music. Playing in duet with violin the artist presented, among other, all Beethoven’s sonatas (also as a whole staged in a cycle of three concerts), collection of Brahms’ sonatas, Schubert’s Fantasia in C major, sonatas of Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, Franck, Szymanowski, Shostakovich’s as well as Lutosławski’s compositions. He performs with Mariusz Patyra. Artist’s performances with cello feature sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich. Additionally, Mariusz Klimsiak appeared in a piano duet playing Brahms’ Sonata in F minor Op. 34b and 2nd Suite as well as the Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov.
With a soprano Kamila Kułakowska he performed a world premiere of Lutosławski’s Chantefleurs et Chantefables for voice and piano (arranged by Eugeniusz Knapik) in the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in the Polish Radio. More compelling compositions in the repertoire include Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire and among compositions for larger chamber ensembles their mention deserve quintets of Zarębski, Shostakovich, Bacewicz as well as Chausson’s Concerto in D major (for piano, violin and string quartet) or Michał Dobrzyński’s Continuum (for two pianos and two percussion sets). He performed with the Silesian String Quartet
An important element of his professional activity is also a period instrument performing. He started with the romantic repertoire (concertos by Chopin and Schumann) but has been reaching willingly for the instruments of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s time too. In November 2017 came out his album with the Chopin Piano Concerto in F minor performed on a copy of Pleyel piano from 1830. The pianist is joined there by Capella Cracoviensis conducted by Jan Tomasz Adamus.
The artist worked as an assistant with Professor J. Sulikowski, Professor E. Pobłocka and Pofessor J. Godziszewski at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. Nowadays he holds the position of a lecturer at his Alma Mater.