Rafal Sarnecki

Rafal Sarnecki is a guitarist born in 1982 in Warsaw, Poland. In 2002 he graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin School of Music in Warsaw where he studied jazz guitar. Currently he is living and studying music in New York where he received a scholarship at the prestigious jazz department of The New School University. Rafal is a winner of the 1st prize at the „International Jazz Guitar Competition – Guitar City 2002” in Warsaw. He is also a winner of the prize for the best instrumentalist at the „Jazz Standard Festival in Siedlce 2004” and many other competitions. He performed in 8 European countries and toured in the East and West coast of the US. He performed on many jazz festivals in Poland and other European countries: „International Jazz Festival dedicated to Miles Davis” in Rijeka, Croatia, "Muhu Future Music Festival" in Estonia, „Summer Jazz Festival in Cracow” and many others. He performed in some of the prestigious jazz clubs in New York such as: „Dizzy’s Club”, „Sweet Rhythm”. He performed with legends of Polish jazz such as: Janusz Muniak, Maciej Strzelczyk, Janusz Skowron. Rafal studied with some of the greatest jazz musicians in the world such as: Paul Bollenback, Buster Williams, Reggie Workman, Peter Bernstein, John Hicks, Joanne Brackeen and many others. In January 2008 Rafal recorded his first CD "Songs From a New Place" with Pawel Kaczmarczyk on piano, Wojciech Pulcyn on bass and Lukasz Zyta on drums. The CD contains Rafal's compositions and will be released in September 2008.