Piotr Szumieł was born in Warsaw in 1977 and has established an outstanding reputation among the violists of the younger generation. He has been awarded the "Young Poland" scholarship by the Polish Ministry for Culture for exceptional young artists. In 2013 he received the "Paszport Polityki" (the Polityka Magazine Passport) and one year later the "Burletti Buitoni Trust Award" for the extraordinary artistic achievements with the string quartet "Apollon Musagete".

Piotr Szumieł studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, in the class of Prof. Stefan Kamasa and in the chamber music class of Prof. Maja Nosowska, graduating with honours in 2001. The next stage in his music education were the studies at the University for Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna in the viola class of Prof. Wolfgang Klos and in the chamber music class of Prof. Johannes Meissl, where he also graduated with honours in 2010.

Piotr Szumieł has lead master courses in Austria, Germany and Poland and also was a juror for internatinonal competitions in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Katowice.

Since 2005, Piotr Szumieł has been employed as Assistant Professor at the Carl Maria von Weber Music Academy in Dresden, where he runs the viola and chamber music classes, and in 2013 he set out to teaching at the Karol Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, where he also conducts the classes for viola and chamber music.

Piotr Szumieł plays a viola by Giovani Cavani dated 1882.