This new recording is part of 'The Blue Series'; unique music portraits of the most interesting personalities of the International Chopin Piano Competition.

One of just two Polish finalists in the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in October 2021, Jakub Kuszlik became the highest-ranking Pole in the contest when he was awarded fourth prize. He had garnered good opinions throughout from a supportive audience and critics alike, indeed right from beginning: already in the First Stage, Krzysztof Stefański observed in the Chopin Courier that, 'Kuszlik went straight to the point in the Nocturne in E major, op.62 no.2. The even rhythm of the left hand was only disturbed by the delicate rubato, and all the changes in mood proceeded smoothly.' This is a neat summary of what stylish Nocturne playing is all about, right across the span of such a quintessential Chopin genre.

Kuszlik was the winner of Fourth Prize in the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, where he also was awarded the Polish Radio Prize for the best performance of Mazurkas.

A graduate of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń's piano class at Bydgoszcz Music Academy, he has also won prizes in the 10th International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (Second Prize, 2016), Hilton Head International Piano Competition in New York (Second Prize, 2019), Top of the World International Piano Competition in Troms, Norway (third prize, 2019), Moritz Moszkowski International Competition in Kielce (First Prize, 2013), 10th Arthur Rubinstein Memorial Competition in Bydgoszcz (Second Prize, 2014) and 13th Ludwik Stefański and Halina Czerny-Stefańska Competition in Płock (Grand Prix, 2014); he was also a semi-finalist in the Beethoven Competition in Bonn (2017).

Jakub Kuszlik has been awarded scholarships by the Czarnecki Foundation and the Mayor of Bydgoszcz.

He has performed in Poland and abroad, including the US, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Norway, Iceland and Italy. In 2018 he gave an excellently received concert at the Lincoln Center in New York.