Ryszard Żołędziewski studied saxophone with Prof. Christian Roellinger at Konservatorium für Musik und Theater Bern in Switzerland. He developed his saxophone playing skills with such outstanding saxophonists as John-Edward Kelly, Iwan Roth and Marcus Weiss.
He obtained a degree of doctor of musical art under the supervision of Prof. Mieczysław Stachura at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław and then earned habilitation there. As a soloist he cooperated with numerous orchestras, performing at prestigious philharmonic and concert halls in Europe. He performed the most important classical saxophone works, as well as modern, innovative compositions, including 21-century pieces, many of which he premiered. He had the honour of playing under the direction of such conductors as Mariusz Błaszczyk, Péter Eötvös, Volodimir Kiradjiev, Robert Kurdybacha, Valeriyi Matyukhin, Viesturs Ozols, Clemens Schuldt, Stanisław Skrowaczewski and Kaspar Zahnder. He performed many times in Austria, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Latvia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Italy. During the many years of his artistic activity he had a chance to cooperate with many outstanding composers, such as Andrea Csollány, Evalds Daugulis, Henry Kelder, Carlos Micháns, Volodymyr Runchak, Igor Shcherbakov and Brian Willson, and pieces by composers form Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and the USA were dedicated to him. In 2013 during the 23rd International Contemporary Music Festival in Kiev he performed Volodymyr Runchak’s Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra with the Kiev Philharmonic. In 2015 he gave the European premiere of Erwin Dressel’s Duo Konzert, first with the Wrocław Sound Factory Orchestra, and then with the Lower Silesian Philharmonic. He cooperates with Wrocław Opera. He participated in many recordings for the radio and television in Poland, Switzerland, Latvia and Ukraine. He recorded a solo album Colors of Saxophone for DUX Recording Producers and Halfway Reflections for Wratislavia Productions. Apart from artistic activity, Ryszard Żołędziewski conducts also research and teaching activity. He is employed as an assistant professor at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, where he leads the classical saxophone class and teaches chamber music.