Maria Ludwika Gabryś-Heyke – a pianist distinguished by her broad musical interests and her ability to play on a modern piano, a Mozartean Hammerklavier and a Romantic fortepiano. A graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw (class of prof.Teresa Manasterska), she honed her sills in Switzerland, training for five years with Ivan Klansky in Lucerne (soloist diploma with honours) and then with Jesper Christensen (pianoforte) at the famous Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Her wealth of musical experience allows her to move freely around various styles and performance conventions. In solo and chamber concerts in Japan, South Korea, China, the US and Europe, she has presented repertoire ranging from the eighteenth century to first performances of contemporary music.
The artist has been very successful in international competitions, winning First Prizes in the Ludwig van Beethoven International Competition in Hradec nad Moravicí (Czech Republic), the Edwin Fischer-Wettbewerb in Lucerne (Switzerland), and the Chopin Golden Ring Competition (period instruments) in Ptuj, Slovenia. She has held multiple scholarships from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Fryderyk Chopin Society and the prestigious Crescendum Est-Polonia Foundation.
Her successes have led to appearances in festivals in Vienna, Mariánské Láznĕ, Mendelssohn Musikfestwoche Wengen, Murten Classics, the Slovenian Festival of Early Music and a festival in Kyoto. She has given recitals in front of distinguished personages and heads of state, including Emperor Akihito of Japan.
Maria Gabrys-Heyke is a professor of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. She has recorded for Polish Radio and the Swiss radio station DRS 2. Disc recordings have been released on Ars Produktion, Chopin University Press, Sarton, ForTune and Naxos (for the premiere recording of works by Marian Sawa (2017) and Adolph Gutmann (2022) she was nominated twice for a Polish record industry prize: Fryderyk).
