We are very pleased to announce the name of Jazz Juniors Festival’s new Artistic Director and Artist-in-Residence –  the outstanding Polish saxophonist and jazz composer Adam Pierończyk! For the next three years he will be responsible for the festival programming as well as presenting his own original annual project.

Adam Pierończyk is a sax player, composer and bandleader, hailed by the international press as one of the most interesting and creative musicians in Europe and a leading innovator in the Polish jazz scene. He has released more than 20 albums under his own name, winning such accolades as 18 Fryderyk nominations and two Fryderyk Awards (as Jazz Musician of the Year and for the Jazz Album of the Year). 15 times he has been named Best Soprano Saxophonist of the Jazz Forum magazine.

Adam Pierończyk also held the post of Artistic Director to the Jazz aux Oudayas and Jazz Au Chellah festivals in Morocco’s capital Rabat (2005-2006) and the Sopot Jazz Festival (2011 – 2015).

The artist has collaborated with such musicians as, among others, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Miroslav Vitous, Gary Thomas, Greg Osby, Bobby McFerrin, Jeff  ‘Tain’ Watts, Trilok Gurtu, Tomasz Stańko, Ted Curson, Avishai Cohen, Lage Lund, Orlando Le Fleming, Joe Martin, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Anthony Cox, Joey Calderazzo, and Leszek Możdżer. He gives concerts worldwide. In Europe, he has so far performed in Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark, Czechia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Outside the Old Continent, he has appeared in such countries as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Morocco, Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and China.

As of 2019,  Adam Pierończyk takes over as Artistic Director and Artist-in-Residence to the Jazz Juniors festival.

“Adam Pierończyk has for many years been recognised as a leading European saxophonist. Each of his albums is an intriguing and original project, which defies any easy categorisation.”

Marek Romański / Jazz Forum