The Polish counter-tenor, Piotr Olech, graduated from the Stanisław Moniuszko Music Academy in Gdansk (with honors), in the class of Professor Piotr Kusiewicz. He then studied at the Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw at the Department of Music. He has participated in a number of courses directed by artists such as Paul Esswood, Kai Wessel, Stephen Taylor, and members of King's Singers.
From 1995 to 2000, he was a member of the chamber vocal group Cantus, with whom he won the second prize at The First for Early Music Competition "The Past for the Future" in Warsaw and the Best Debut Award at the 8th Old Music Festival in Warsaw. He collaborates with the Warsaw Chamber Opera (among others, in the performances of C. Monteverdi, George Frideric Handel or W.A. Mozart), with significant Polish soloists, especially artists focusing on the performance of early music, including Ars Cantus, Ars Nova, Concerto Polacco, Dekameron, Il Tempo, Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense, as well as philharmonic and chamber orchestras. He has participated in many prestigious music festivals in Poland and abroad (Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain). In 2003, at the European Baroque Academy of Ambronay, France, he participated in the performance of the opera Athalia by G.F. Handel, under the baton of Paul McCreesh. He is also a member of Collegium Vocale Gent (Director: Philippe Herreweghe).
Piotr Olech is also recording for Polish radio and television. Of his nearly 30 recordings, 3 were awarded Fryderyk Award.
Piotr Olech is a lecturer at the Music Institute of the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, UMCS); and teaches Baroque music courses in Lidzbark Warmiński (Poland) and Summer School of Baroque Music (Czech Republic). Since October 2017, he also teaches at Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina. |