DARIUSZ PAWLAS, a native of Poland, received his diploma (cum laude) in piano performance from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he was studying with the eminent Polish teacher Professor Andrzej Jasinski. He earned both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at Rice University (class of Professor John Perry, distinguished artist and teacher, for whom Dr. Pawlas was studio assistant). He mastered his piano skills during summer classes under the guidance of some outstanding internationally renowned pedagogues (Richard Goode, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, just to mention a few).

Dr. Pawlas was recognized by Austin District Music Teachers Association with the Collegiate Teacher of the Year for 2000 award. He was the recipient of a scholarship from the Fryderyk Chopin Society of Warsaw (1985, 1987, 1990) and from the Ministry of Polish Culture (1988). He also was the winner of the prestigious Estrada Mlodych Polish Piano Festival in Slupsk. Other prizes include second place at the International Competition for Young Pianists Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte” in Usti on the Elbe (1981) and the highest award at the Second Polish Karol Szymanowski Competition in Lódz (1987).

The artist has performed concerts in Austria, former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Greece, Holland, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States (Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Washington, D.C.). Most recently, he was honored to perform in Zelazowa Wola (Chopin’s birthplace), and for the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C. to benefit the National Edition of Chopin’s Works. On numerous occasions he has appeared as a soloist with major symphony orchestras such as the Silesian Philharmonics of Katowice and the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra of Lódz. His recordings are available on Polskie Nagrania Records. He has also made recordings for Polish Radio and Television.

Currently Dr. Pawlas joins the piano faculty at the University of Texas School of Music in Austin, while still active in Houston as a private piano instructor for pre-college students in the preparatory division of the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. His students are among winners of local, state, national, and international music competitions.