Before the pandemonium of a goal, before cheering drowns out the arena, before the chanting in the locker room erupts in a pre-game meeting; there is silence. Silence, as one of the most important team members sits alone atop section 323. Though you may not see him during the game, every noise you hear, every goal you celebrate, every crack of lightning, he’s there.
If you’re racking your brain to remember the Lightning roster, it may be helpful to add that our guest is not on the sideline bench, but the organ bench. Krystof Srebrakowski sits at his throne– a throne made of hockey sticks, gloves, and other equipment, may I add– and is eager to tell his new guest about every bell and whistle the organ possesses. Without a hint of awkwardness, Krystof started on his story of how he found himself behind an organ in Florida, over 5,000 miles away from his hometown in Poland.
“I fell into music because Paul– that was my church organist– he noticed first and alerted my parents that there is a kid that has aptitude or whatever. So I started lessons when I was five, first piano lessons,” Krystof said “Organ was too big for me, because I was just a little kid!” He laughed.
Krystof noted that his roots helped form his work ethic. Though it may seem a bit extreme by American standards, his childhood eight-to-ten hour long piano lessons were typical for someone his age– and his talent.
“I participated in different competitions and everything, just like a regular Central European kid, right?” he said, shrugging.
Though his heritage encouraged his practice regimen, his talent for music came as a surprise.
“My mom was a pharmacist. My dad was a teacher and an engineer for mining. So it was completely, completely random,” he recalls “But my parents were very cultural people, just like most people coming from that part of Central Europe and everything, they are versed in languages, in history and music…”
Krystof does a subtle flex of telling the languages he knows, a small smirk on his lips. When sat behind the organ, it is clear that the instrument is not one that is easily learned– or even understood. There are seemingly a million buttons surrounding him, enough to make the average person a bit on edge, but there is nothing but comfort in Krystof’s eyes.
He explains that when he was around 18 he had a decision to make, a decision that would set the course for the rest of his career.
“Music is a very, very broad term, as you know, you have to, if you are a professional musician, you’re thinking of music as a profession, you have to choose which path, because there is not enough hours in the day to master everything,” he says with his hands in the air.
Though Krystof did try many different genres of music he found that jazz piano spoke to him. So he started this new path in Poland, first with commercial arranging then decided to take his talents to the United States. As if the path of a musician was not impressive enough, Krystof spent time at Harvard as part of an ESL (English as a Second Language) Program. Once he finished that he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he then entered the piano program.
“I was basically thinking where to settle down and out of all places, the most appealing place at that time, because I had nothing, I was like, little poor student, was Orlando. Because Walt Disney World was the mecca for live music, for musicians, and housing was inexpensive at that time, this was mid-1990s, so I settled down in Orlando.” Krystof explained.
Krystof continued casually, about what he did specifically at Disney over the 7 years that he was there. Of course, with a talent like Krystof’s there is nothing casual about his time at Disney. He didn’t just play at Disney, he invented at Disney.
“And this is a pivotal thing, because with Disney Wedding Pavilion, we have to play on the organ. It’s basically organ, but we have to make it more like a film music. So the organists, we kind of invented the style of playing.” He says, shrugging as if that isn’t an achievement most players work their whole lives for.
Then his movement to TBL comes along. There is no flashy story, just a cellist who heard from a friend of a friend that the Lightning needed someone who was able to handle the organ. They had one name in mind.
“This is the largest electronic theater organ in the world. All sounds you can possibly imagine, electric guitars, acoustic guitars. I can go over this for days and days and days. It’s so much! It took me, hmm, took me several months to learn this instrument.” As Krystof explains, he gives a sample of each part of the controls.
When asked about how he fits into the history of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Krystof broke out into a grin.
“I’m so honored that people appreciate what I do,” He smiled, “I just love playing. I love being part of the Tampa Bay Lightning team, the production team, especially Lightning Vision and I have a great big group of people to work with– I’m not by myself here.”
The team Krystof is referring to consists of John Franzone and Sean Bovelsky. John is the Senior VP of Game Presentation, while Sean is the DJ for TBL.“I’m communicating with them throughout the entire game from the first moment that I start playing to after the game finishes.” Krystof says. These three men are in control of every song, sound, buzz, crack, or hoot that’s made in the arena on a typical game night.
“So I have a great, great team, and I’m honored to actually work with everybody, because it’s– it’s a privilege to be the organist, for example, the Lightning team.” He covers the side of his mouth as if telling a big secret, “You know, the team has been incredibly successful, as you know, two Stanley Cups during my tenure. There were two championships and twice in the Stanley Cup Finals. You can’t get anywhere better than this in this day and age in sports.”
Krystof Srebrakowski is not a one-trick-pony. Though he loves a good classical composition, namely from Billy Childs, Pat Metheny, or Lyle Mays, Krystof made sure that his classics aren’t confined to composers. Genesis, King Crimson, The Beatles (he rolls his eyes as he says this, as if it was such an obvious answer he’s embarrassed he even had to say) are also on his playlist.
Krystof uses his experiences from Lightning games as inspiration in his composing, mostly in his 18-track CD called “Power Play”.
“I have about two minutes when the spotlight goes on the organ to play something, something for the action movies and everything,” he starts, “So I did adaptations of Star Wars. I did Spider-Man. I did Indiana Jones. I did the whole entire litany of action movies and everything. And then I started to compose my own original music in the same vein, in the same genre.”
Krystof says his CD is less of listening to a typical classical piece and closer to a film score, a way to parallel the feeling he gets while being a part of home games.
There was one last question of the day. Krystof had played everything from penalty sounds to Dua Lipa, he told the secret of the lightning strikes and thunder rumbles he’s able to radiate throughout the arena, and he explained what he could of the mammoth instrument in front of him. There were hoots and bangs and tweets, but when asked what advice he lives by, there was a blip of silence.
“Just do something that you love doing and do it well. Cherish your time, because you can be only active in so many hours during the day. So use your time wisely, if you have something that you’re passionate about, master it.” he said, his hands resting casualty on the keys in front of him.
Still, there was no pandemonium of a goal, no screaming of fans filling the arena, no players chanting in a pre-game ritual; still silence. But in 2 hours, for fans young and old, Krystof Srebrakowski will be creating the soundtrack for their memories with Tampa Bay Lightning, the 23rd Lightning player.