Jakub Polaczyk (b. 1983, Kraków) the Polishborn, New York–based composer, pianist, educator and cultural ambassador whose music intertwines contemporary innovation with classical and Polish traditions in a surrealsynthetic voice. A graduate of the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music, Jagiellonian University, and Carnegie Mellon University, Polaczyk also pursued postgraduate studies at the Grazyna Bacewicz Academy and the Schiller Film School in Łódź. His composition teachers include: Krzysztof Penderecki, Marcel Chyrzyński, Marek Chołoniewski, Reza Vali, and Jan van Landeghem. He studied piano under the legendary Polish pedagogue Irena Rolanowska. Based in New York City, Polaczyk is a strong advocate for new music. From 2018 to 2023, he served as Director of the International Chopin and Friends Festival, during which the festival received Poland’s Golden Eagles Statuette in 2023. He also launched a new music composition competition. As a broadcaster, he has introduced audiences in New York and Chicago to both classical and contemporary music at the Polish Radio AM1030 Chicago (2021-2024). Polaczyk teaches composition, music theory, and piano at the New York Conservatory of Music/Marymount College where his students have earned notable awards in American piano competitions.  As a pianist, Polaczyk has collaborated with a wide range of international artists, including: Christine Walevska, Roberto Vasquez, Nadia Rodriguez, Sarah Lucero, Margot Whitelaw, Justyna Giermola, Marek Polański, Małgorzata Staniszewska, Dominika Zamara, Kofi Hayford, Shu-Wei Tseng, Pei-Wen, Gaga Wong, Ivan Ivanov, and many others.  As a composer, he has garnered over 20 national and international honors, including: the 2nd Prize on the New York Composers Circle(2024),  First Prize on The American Prize in Composition (2020), accolades from the Composers Guild of New Jersey (2022) and ASCAP Plus Awards (2020-2024).  His music has been performed in 24 U.S. states and worldwide, with premieres at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kaufman Center in New York, and the Musikverein in Vienna. A Steinway & Sons NY partner artist, Polaczyk is published by Donemus, PWM, Universal Edition Vienna, and BabelScores, with recordings on Albany Records, Ablaze Records, Naxos, and DUX. He has recently lectured at institutions such as the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the University of Louisville. In 2024, a doctoral thesis on his music was published by the University of Kentucky, and a documentary about his life and work—Conversation with Jakub Polaczyk, directed by Dennis Woytek—received a Bronze Award at the 43rd Telly Awards in New York (2023). His list of accolades includes: The Bronze Medal “Gloria Artis” for Merit to Culture (Poland, 2023), A municipal honor from the city of Stary Sącz (2024), The Gold Cross of Merit awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland (2024), presented at the Polish Consulate in NYC. In 2024, he became one of the first musicians  to view the newly discovered Waltzby Frédéric Chopin at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. He completed a contemporary realization and arrangement of the fragment, which was published in 2025. Polaczyk’s music work earned a Fryderyk Award nomination (the Polish equivalent of the Grammys) for more information visit: www.jakub.polaczyk.com