Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Polish pianist of Bulgarian origin. She graduated from the piano class of Zbigniew Śliwiński at the State High School of Music in Gdańsk in 1973. She continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna in the class of Alexander Jenner.

She has received awards at national and international competitions, including the Alessandro Casagrande Competition in Terni (1975), and a distinction at the 9th F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw that same year.

An experienced piano teacher, she is currently professor of piano at the music academies of Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz. She also holds masterclasses, seminars and consultancies in Poland and abroad. Among her students is Rafał Blechacz, the unanimous winner of the 15th International F. Chopin Competition in October 2005. Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń sits in piano competition juries in Poland and abroad.

She appears as a soloist both domestically and abroad, playing works ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century, with special emphasis on Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, and Bartók. She has also given seveal first performances of modern Polish works, and remains active as a chamber musician.

Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń has been a juror of music competitions in Poland and abroad. In 2015, she will chair the jury of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.   

She is the co-founder of the Gdańsk Society of Music Lovers (1996) and the ’Musica nos unit’ International Chamber Music Festival. For her social activities, she has received the Duke Mściwoj Medal from the Gdańsk City Council. In 2004, she received a Commission for National Education medal, and in 2005, the Gloria Artis medal and the Commander’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta award.