Piotr Schmidt International – Komeda’s Songs - NOSPR

Some of Krzysztof Komeda’s most beautiful melodies, world-class artists and a unique line-up assembled especially for this concert at NOSPR. On February 3, 2027, Piotr Schmidt will present an expanded concert version of his “Komeda’s Songs” project in Katowice – a deeply personal interpretation of the music of one of the most important composers in the history of Polish jazz.

For more than six decades, Komeda’s music has captivated audiences with its extraordinary melodic language, cinematic imagination, melancholy and emotional depth. Themes originally written for films and songs have long transcended their original forms, becoming an integral part of Polish culture and the European jazz canon.

Piotr Schmidt approaches this music with great respect, yet without treating it as a museum piece. The starting point is the material from the album “Komeda’s Songs Without Words” – “Piosenki Komedy bez słów” (SJRecords, 2026) – instrumental interpretations of some of Komeda’s most recognizable compositions, in which unforgettable melodies become a platform for improvisation and the contemporary language of jazz. Lyricism meets tension, silence meets expression, while Komeda’s cinematic sense of drama encounters the individuality and extraordinary creativity of the invited artists.

The NOSPR concert will be a truly unique expansion of this project. An international line-up of outstanding musicians representing different musical worlds will meet on one stage to present Komeda’s music in new arrangements.

Joining Piotr Schmidt as a special guest will be Aaron Parks – one of the most highly regarded American jazz pianists of his generation, an artist with an exceptionally distinctive, spacious and lyrical musical language. On percussion, the legendary Mino Cinelu, whose remarkable career has included collaborations with some of the greatest names in international music, including Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Sting.

A distinctive new colour will be brought to the project by Marcin Wyrostek – a virtuoso accordionist whose remarkable imagination, expressiveness and unmistakable sound will open Komeda’s compositions to entirely new musical spaces. Alongside him will be Grzech Piotrowski – saxophonist and composer whose work has for years crossed the boundaries between jazz, film music, world music and spacious, freely improvised music.

The project will also feature a female voice. Special guest Marta Król, an outstanding jazz and soul vocalist, will offer another perspective on selected Komeda compositions, reconnecting them with their original character as songs.

The line-up is completed by outstanding representatives of the Polish jazz scene: Paweł Tomaszewski on piano and keyboards, Andrzej Święs on double bass and Sebastian Frankiewicz on drums.

For Piotr Schmidt, this project marks another chapter in his long-standing artistic dialogue with Komeda’s music. Following “Komeda Unknown 1967” (2022), devoted to previously unknown compositions by the master rediscovered after more than half a century, the album “Tribute to Tomasz Stańko” (2018) – which included, among others, Komeda’s famous Rosemary’s Baby lullaby – and “Dark Forecast” (2020), where Schmidt’s original compositions were accompanied by two Komeda ballads from Roman Polanski’s film Knife in the Water, the trumpeter once again returns to Komeda’s music – this time with the largest and most diverse line-up in the history of the project.

On February 3 at NOSPR, different generations, musical personalities and artistic languages will meet on one stage. What brings them together is Komeda – his melodies, his sense of space and his unmistakable world of profound emotion.

The concert will become a unique musical conversation with Komeda – through improvisation, imagination and the individual sound of each artist, all framed by the leader’s outstanding new arrangements.

Piotr Schmidt is one of the leading trumpeters on the Polish jazz scene, as well as a composer, producer and record label owner. A graduate and PhD of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he also taught for many years, he currently serves as Assistant Professor at the Jazz Department of the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Grand Prix at the 2010 Getxo Jazz Festival, where he also received the award for Best Soloist of the Festival. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with many prominent figures of Polish and international jazz, including Leszek Możdżer, Aaron Parks, Mino Cinelu, Walter Smith III, Adam Bałdych, Krzysztof Herdzin, Michał Urbaniak, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Włodzimierz Nahorny, Zbigniew Namysłowski and Henryk Miśkiewicz, among others.

A bandleader and creator of numerous original musical projects, Schmidt has released 19 albums as a leader, including Tribute to Tomasz Stańko and Komeda Unknown 1967. For years he has ranked among the leading musicians in the prestigious Jazz Top poll conducted by Jazz Forum magazine, and was voted Trumpeter of the Year in 2023 and 2025.

His original album Hearsay was named Jazz Album of the Year 2023 by four different critics and publications. His 2025 album Ether was twice selected as Jazz Album of the Year 2025, including by Jazz Forum magazine.

Concert duration: approximately 90 minutes
Concert duration may be subject to change.

Event organizer: Agencja Koncertowa.eu

More information:

piotrschmidt.eu
sjrecords.eu
koncertowa.eu

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