conductor, composer, pianist and tutor, born on 31st May 1932 in Sosnowiec, d. on 9th August 2004 in Warsaw. He graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Poznań after studies in 1950-58 with three honours degrees: in composition (Stefan Bolesław Poradowski), piano (Wacław Lewandowski) and conducting (Stanisław Wisłocki and Bohdan Wodiczko). He continued his studies in 1959-1960 in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied symphonic conducting under Norman Del Mar, opera conducting under Warwick Braithwaite, composition under R. Jones and, percussion with H. Taylor. In 1958-1959 he was an assistant conductor in the Poznań Philharmonic, and in 1960-1972 - a conductor in the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. Between 1960 and 1966 he simultaneously conducted the Scouts' Symphony Orchestra, with which he performed, among others, at the Moniuszko Festivals in Kudowa-Zdrój and at concerts in the former German Democratic Republic. Subsequently he held the positions of artistic director and first conductor in the Grand Theatre in Łódź (1972-1977), artistic director and first conductor of the Baltic Opera and Philharmonic in Gdańsk (1981-1983). In 1973-1976 he worked with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, and in 1983-1987 with the Badische Staatsoper in Karlsruhe. In 1999 he became resident conductor of the Taegu City Symphony Orchestra in South Korea.
He conducted a wide repertoire of more than 300 symphonic works, as well as above 80 operas and ballets. He repeatedly recorded with the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Polish Radio Orchestras in Cracow and Warsaw. He held performances in Bulgaria, the former Czechoslovakia, the former GDR (including concerts with the Orchestra of the Gewandhaus), the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Luxembourg, Great Britain (incl. the Edinburgh Festival), Greece, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union (incl. appearances with the Polish Radio National Symphony in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev), the USA, Egypt, South Korea, Cuba (the premiere of S. Moniuszko's Halka in 1971). He received enthusiastic reviews during all his tours.
The conductor has simultaneously been engaged in teaching activities. In 1958-1959 he taught piano classes in the State Higher School of Music in Poznań, and from 1960 he taught classes in conducting at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw - first as a lecturer, then as a reader, and since 1989 - as a professor. He has also held other posts at the Warsaw Academy: head of the Department of Conducting in 1969-1971, dean of the Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory in 1975-1978, and rector of the Academy in 1978-1981. In 1978-1982 he also acted as president of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen. He taught conducting as a visiting professor at the Keimyung University in Taegu, South Korea in 1995 and again in 1997-1998. From 1997 he again occupied the chair of conducting at the Music Academy in Warsaw. The conductors who did their graduate work under his supervision include: Jerzy Maksymiuk, Wojciech Rajski, T. Kozłowski, P. Wajrak, K. Wiencek, the composer and conductor Waldemar Miksa, T. Wicherek, P. Borkowski, K. Lewandowski, J. Boniecki, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, M. Newnham (Canada).
He was a member of the Polish Composers' Union and of the ZAiKS Authors' Association. He received numerous state and artistic awards, including the Cavalier's Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order in 1979 and the Minister of Culture and Art Award, First Class, in 1982.
Compositions
Four Songs for voice and piano to words by Zofia Mrozowicka (1950)
Prelude for strings (1951)
Suite for symphony orchestra (1951)
Sonata Form for piano (1951)
Variations for piano (1951)
Romance for voice and piano (1952)
Dance Impressions (on themes from Wielkopolska cheers) for small symphony orchestra (1952)
Dramatic Overture for great symphony orchestra (1952)
Sonatina per pianoforte (1952)
Valse en Rondeau ballet scene for symphony orchestra (1953)
Five Preludes for piano (1953-55)
Scherzo fantastico for great symphony orchestra (1954)
Adagio for string quartet (1956)
Concerto for piano and orchestra (1956-57)
Prepared Music for violin and piano (1958)
Capriccio for solo violin (1959)
Concerto per flauto e orchestra (1960)
Transfigurations concerto for voice and instruments (1965)
Hymn to the Wandering Mother of God for voice and organ to words by Father Bolesław Zdunek (1981)
Metamorphoses variations on a theme from Paganini for piano and orchestra (1989)
10/16 study for piano (1997)
Literature
Goniarska Barbara, Madey Bogusław Antoni, In: Almanach Kompozytorów Akademii Muzycznej im. F. Chopina w Warszawie [Book of Composers from the F. Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw], vol. II, Akademia Muzyczna w Warszawie, Warszawa 2004