Biography

One of the most outstanding Baroque violinists, an artist with very wide interests, which include instrumental music from the 16th to the 21st centuries, with particular emphasis on virtuoso violin literature. He plays Baroque and modern violins, viola, and viola d’amore. He performs as a soloist, chamber musician and director. 

He graduated from the Instrumental Faculty of the Academy of Music in Kraków, where his master was Zbigniew Szlezer. At the same time, he specialised in Baroque violin under the supervision of Zygmunt Kaczmarski. 

He has given concerts throughout Europe and the world with many excellent orchestras, and in Poland he has collaborated with almost all early music ensembles. He is a member of the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble. He was a member of Sinfonietta Cracovia and concertmaster of Wrocław Baroque Orchestra.

As a soloist, he has enjoyed collaborations with Warsaw Chamber Opera and Warsaw Camerata. He has directed, among others the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, Częstochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Lower Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and the Gdynia Sinfonia Nordica Chamber Orchestra. 

Zbigniew Pilch has a rich phonographic catalogue. In 2017, his solo album entitled Enlightened Virtuoso (CD Accord) was released.. He also recorded the virtuoso Violin Concertos by Feliks Janiewicz with Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense conducted by Kai Bumann (2007). In 2009, Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 103 and 104 were released, performed by the Wrocław Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (currently NFM Wrocław Philharmonic) under his direction. He also took part in many other award-winning recordings, including with Wrocław Baroque Orchestra and Wrocław Baroque Ensemble. In August 2024, the artist's latest solo album Bach Romantique (CD Accord) was released, containing cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach in an early Romantic arrangement by Ferdinand David for violin. The album was honored with the Wrocław Artistic Award 2024 and nominated for the Fryderyk Award 2025.

Zbigniew Pilch is a professor at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, where he teaches the Baroque violin class and is also Head of the Department of Early Music. Additionally, he lectures at the Varmia Musica Festival in Lidzbark Warmiński. In 2020, he received the honorary badge of Merit for Polish Culture for outstanding artistic achievements, awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.