Wojtek Komsta

About Wojtek

Clarinetist Wojtek Komsta has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America, and South America. His playing has been featured on European television and radio, and he has been profiled in Listen magazine.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Sinfonietta Cracovia, Szczecin Symphony, Silesia Chamber Orchestra, and Tarnów Chamber Orchestra in Poland. He gave the Polish premiere of Penderecki’s Viola Concerto transcribed for clarinet by the composer and has also performed his own transcription of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Most recently, he performed Franz Krommer’s Concerto for Two Clarinets with Javier Guzman at the EAFIT orchestra in Medellin, Colombia. At the Penderecki International Contemporary Music Competition in Krakow, he won the title “Most Talented Musician” for two consecutive years. At the Santa Cecilia Festival in Rome, Luciano Berio awarded him a prize for the best performance of his Sequenza IXa for clarinet solo.

An avid chamber and orchestral musician, he has toured throughout Europe, performing with the Silesia Quartet, the Silesia Chamber Orchestra, the Dafo Quartet, and the Sinfonietta Cracovia. For years he performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the New York Chamber Orchestra. In 2019, he gave the world premiere of “Halny,” a work for solo clarinet by Polish composer Jakub Polanczyk, at Carnegie Hall.

Komsta has presented recitals and masterclasses at numerous music schools including the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, amd Mannes School of Music.

After receiving his master’s degree at the Academy of Music in Krakow, where he received the National Award for Highest Academic Achievement, he studied chamber music at the International Mozart Academy. On scholarship from the Kosciuszko Foundation, he completed his Performance Diploma at Indiana University, where he was a student of Eli Eban.