Maria Leszczyńska-Thieu

Maria Leszczyńska-Thieu is a Polish cellist. She began her cello studies at the age of eight, in the class of Michał Nyżnyk. She then studied with Marcin Zdunik, and is currently studying in the class of Professor Andrzej Bauer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and in the class of Professor Pieter Wispelwey at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. She has repeatedly taken part in cello and chamber music competitions, winning top places, including: 2nd place at the 11th International Cello Competition in Liezen (Austria, 2014), 1st place and a special prize for the performance of a work by a 20th and 21st century composer. at the 18th Bohdan Warchal International String Instrument Competition in Dolny Kubin (Slovakia, 2014), or 2nd place at the Ludwig van Beethoven International Competition in Hradec nad Moravicí (Czech Republic, 2018). Since 2013, together with Ewa Pobłocka and Ewa Leszczyńska, she has co-founded the Multi Trio ensemble, in which the artists showcase their multi-instrumental skills - in addition to the cello, Maria Leszczyńska-Thieu also plays the piano there. The ensemble has performed on many stages in Poland, as well as in the United States. Maria Leszczyńska-Thieu honed her skills at master classes, under the guidance of such professors as Danjulo Ishizaka, Kazimierz Michalik, Arto Noras and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. She was awarded the Franciszek Wybrańczyk Artistic Scholarships of the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and the Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. In the 2019/2020 season, she was a participant in the 8th edition of the Sinfonia Varsovia Academy, a project that prepares young instrumentalists for work as orchestral musicians. She successfully arranges a diverse repertoire for cello ensembles; for several years her arrangements have been performed by participants of the August Cello Workshop, and in 2019 two of them were presented at the Vienna Philharmonic Ball.