Witold Małcużyński

Witold Malcuzynski ( born August 10, 1914 in Koziczyn at Ciechanów north of Warsaw; † July 17, 1977 in Mallorca ) was a Polish pianist who had specialized in Chopin.

Malcuzynski was born near Warsaw. At the age of ten he started playing the piano and eventually took lessons at the Conservatory of the later Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

He had originally intended to study the law, but then switched to music and studied under a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni. In 1936, after completion of the Conservatory with honors, he received an invitation under Ignacy Jan Paderewski continue learning, one of the great Romantic pianists of the " Golden Age ". Małcużyńskis game was marked by passion and poetry. In 1937, he met at the Third International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the third prize, his future wife, the French pianist Colette Gaveau.

When the Second World War began, he was in France. He joined the Polish Army there and visited with his artistic propaganda department Polish military camp. After the capitulation of France he escaped with his wife to Portugal, where he met the famous conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg. Fitelberg offered him a tour in South America. Malcuzynski went in October 1940 to Argentina. In April 1942 he moved to the United States. Central to his American career was Yehudi Menuhin, who helped him start with organizational matters. After the war he lived in Switzerland. He was a jury member of the International Chopin Competitions in 1960 and 1970 and the International Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium in 1960.

He died in 1977 in Mallorca and was buried in Powązki cemetery in Warsaw.

He was the brother of Karol Malcuzynski, a politician and journalist.