MIKOŁAJ PAŁOSZ, freelance cellist, improviser and composer, specializing in contemporary and avant-garde music performance. He obtained a PhD in Music Performance at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Mikołaj studied at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He won prizes at international music competitions including the Penderecki International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Cracow and the Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw. He appears regularly at the Warsaw Autumn, the Wrocław Musica Polonica Nova festivals, and the Composer's Portraits series in Warsaw. As a member of Netherlands-based Cello Octet Conjunto Iberico he has toured throughout Europe, USA, Mexico and South America. Mikołaj Pałosz is permanent member of the Warsaw Cellonet Group directed by Andrzej Bauer. His solo album Cellovator sponsored by the Polish Minister of Culture Young Poland scholarship program featuring contemporary compositions and improvisation was released in 2008 by DUX label. A recording of Mikołaj is included on a CD featuring the most inspiring music recorded recently in Poland described in the 7/2010 issue of the WIRE magazine. Together with saxophonist Ray Dickaty and drummer Paweł Szpura he forms the improvising trio Osaka Vacuum.
Together with violinist Anna Kwiatkowska, Mikołaj forms a duo focusing on contemporary repertoire. The Kwiatkowska/Pałosz duo has appeared at leading contemporary music festivals in Poland. Together with Anna, Mikołaj is member of a series of concerts at Nowy Teatr in Warsaw. The series presents masterpieces of the twentieth century and newest trends in contemporary classical repertoire.
Mikołaj is a board-member of the Witold Lutoslawski Society.