The internationally renowned marimba virtuoso KATARZYNA MYCKA, (born 1972) is founder of the International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy. Besides her years of study at the music academies in Gdansk, Stuttgart and Salzburg, where she graduated with honours, her artistic development has been documented by numerous prizes at international competitions.

She impressed the musical scene very early on with two first prizes at international marimba competitions: in 1995 she won not only the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition, winning the audience prize there as well, but also the First World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart in 1996.

She has also been successful at other percussion competitions as well, winning First Prize at the 1991 Polish Percussion Competition in Opole and being awarded a special prize in the form of a stipend for foreign study at the 1992 "Concours International d'Exécution Musicale" in Geneva. Katarzyna MyÊka was also a finalist at the 1997 ARD Competition in Munich.

During the same year she appeared as soloist at the First Marimba Festival in Osaka/ Japan and at the International Marimba Festival in Linz/Austria (2004). She is a guest soloist with many orchestras as well, including the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Bejing Symphony Orchestra, Bochum Symphony, Camerata Israeli, WKO Heilbronn, Neubrandenburg Philharmonic, Vanderbilt University Orchestra and with many Philharmonic Orchestras in Poland.

After having been awarded the honour of "Ambassadress of Polish Percussive Arts" by the Polish Percussive Arts Society in 1999, a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Artistic Foundation followed, as well as invitations to perform in concerts and give master classes in the U.S.A., Germany, Poland, Japan, China, Mexico, Luxembourg, Belgium, Bulgaria and Switzerland. Katarzyna MyÊka made her American debut at the International Percussion Festival PASIC 1997 in Anaheim (LA).

Meanwhile, Katarzyna MyÊka has been called upon to serve on the juries of international percussion competitions. In 1999 and 2002 she was a member of the jury of the International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg, in 2000 at the First Polish Marimba Competition in Warsaw, in 2001 at the Percussion Competition in Ostrava/CZ, 2004 at Federal German Competition Jugend Musiziert in Villingen, 2005 at International Percussion Competition in Pleven/BL and 2006 at the International Marimba Competition in Linz/A.
Since October 2006 she teaches marimba at the Music Academy in Poznan.

Following CD-recordings have been released:
1997 “Katarzyna MyÊka – Marimba Spiritual”
1999 “Katarzyna MyÊka – Marimba Dance”
2001 “Katarzyna MyÊka – Marimba Concerto”
2003 “Katarzyna MyÊka – Marimba Sculpture”
2005 “Mycka/Bacanu - J. S. Bach – Marimba Concertos