On March 29, at the age of 94, Karol Rafał Bula (November 24, 1930 – March 29, 2025) passed away. He was a musicologist, educator, and music journalist. From 1994, he served as the president of the Karol Szymanowski Music Society in Zakopane for five terms, and later became its honorary president. The funeral ceremony will take place on April 12 at 12:00 PM in the chapel at the municipal cemetery in Katowice, located on Murckowska Street.
Karol Bula completed his theory studies at the PWSM in Katowice (1959) and his musicology studies at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (1965). He was also a graduate of doctoral studies at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
From 1966 to 1971, Dr. Karol Bula worked as an editor (and from 1968 as the head of the Encyclopedic Editorial Office) at the Polish Music Publishing House in Cracow. At the Academy of Music in Katowice, he lectured on music history, sociology of music, and the methodology of music education (1972–1995). He frequently participated in national and international conferences and scientific symposia. He was the author of a monograph on Georg Philipp Telemann and a translation of Ernst Krause's work Richard Strauss.
Since 1958, he collaborated as a musicologist with the Silesian Philharmonic, Polish Radio, and TVP. His reviews were published in many music and socio-cultural magazines.
From 1969, for over twenty years, he served as the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Music among Children and Youth at the General Board of the Association of Polish Music Artists, and from 1980 to 2002, he was a member of the Main Board of SPAM in Warsaw.
For many years, he was a member of the Program Council of the Silesian Opera, co-founder, juror, and artistic director (in 1994, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) of the Adam Didur International Opera Singing Competition in Bytom.
He was a member (and since 2007, the chairman) of the Jury for the SPAM "Orpheus" Award at the International Contemporary Music Festival "Warsaw Autumn" (since 1980).
For his extensive activity, he received numerous honors, including the "Meritorious Cultural Activist" badge (1969), the Gold Badge of the Association of Polish Music Artists (1972), the Silver Cross of Merit (1977), the Gold Badge of the Polish Section of ISME (1979), the Gold Badge for Merits in the Development of the Katowice Region, and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1985). In recognition of his contributions, the General Assembly of the Karol Szymanowski Music Society awarded him the title of honorary member and honorary president in 2011.
May he rest in peace.
