Poland on Music Theory Print

Abel Korzeniowski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Abel Korzeniowski (; born 18 July 1972) is a Polish composer of film and theatre scores. Early life and education Korzeniowski was born in Kraków. He had contact with music from early childhood: his mother Barbara plays the cello and both his brothers Antoni and Andrzej are musicians. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków majoring in cello and composer studies under the supervision of Krzysztof Penderecki. Career Korzeniowski won acclaim as the composer of music for films and theatre plays. In 2000, he received his first major individual prize – Golden Lions for Best Film Score at the Gdynia Film Festival for his music to Jerzy Stuhr’s (The Big Animal). In 2012, Korzeniowski arranged Patricia Kaas’s album, , which was recorded as a tribute to Edith Piaf. Since 2017, Korzeniowski has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. - 2010 World Soundtrack Awards Best Original Film Score of the Year - 2010 AFT Awards Best Original Score - 2010 The International Cinephile Society (ICS) Best Original Score - rowspan=2 2010 rowspan=2 World Soundtrack Award Public Choice - Discovery of the Year - Best Original Score for a Drama Film - 2016 Anthony Asquith Awar

Adam Bałdych

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Adam Bałdych (born 18 May 1986 in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland) is a Polish violinist, composer, and music producer. Baldych is an ACT MUSIC (Germany) recording artist. He is known from a series of record releases and collaborations with musicians like Marius Neset, Morten Lund, and Lars Danielsson. Career Bałdych picked up the violin at the age of 9 years and started at a music school in Gorzow Wielkopolski under guidance of Grazyna Wasilewska. He is a graduate of the Institute of Jazz and Popular Music at Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music and got a scholarship to continue at Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the age of 16 he had already achieved great recognition, and was called a “prodigy” in Poland. He started touring with prominent Polish and American musicians in Poland, Germany, Serbia, England, Finland, Hungary, Spain, France, Indonesia and the US. His second album for ACT The New Tradition was recorded together with Israeli pianist Yaron Herman and released on 30 May 2014. Recently ACT released Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic IV – Accordion Night which is a recording from the concert within the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series. 28 August 2015 his third album for ACT wil

Adam Jarzębski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Adam Jarzębski (c. 1590 in Warka – 1648/49 in Warsaw) was an early Baroque Polish composer, violinist, poet, and writer. His main extant work Canzoni e concerti (copied in 1627) is not only one of the most important collections of early baroque instrumental ensemble music in Europe but also stands as a unique historical landmark as containing the first purely instrumental compositions to bear the designation concerto. The first documented mention of Jarzębski was in 1612, when he became a member of the chapel of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg in Berlin. After he had stayed in Italy for a year (1615–16), he became a member of the royal musical establishment, first at the court of Sigismund III Vasa and then of Władysław IV. He was held in great esteem by the royal court and was very popular among the members of the patriciate of Warsaw. In 1635 he managed the construction of the royal palace at Ujazdów. In 1643 he published a literary work Gościniec, albo krótkie opisanie Warszawy (The Main Road, or a Short Description of Warsaw) describing the customs and the musical life of the town. He died in Warsaw in 1649. He was an outstanding figure in the history of the Polish cultu

Adolf Schulz-Evler

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Adolf Andrey Schulz-Evler (12 December 185215 May 1905) was a Polish-born composer. Born in Radom, Poland (at that time part of the Russian Empire), he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory, then under Carl Tausig in Berlin. From 1884 to 1904 he taught at the Kharkiv Music School. He wrote about 52 original pieces. His piano transcription of Johann Strauss II’s Blue Danube Waltz: Arabesques on “An der schönen blauen Donau” has been recorded by many pianists, including Jorge Bolet, Jan Smeterlin, Marc-André Hamelin, Zlata Chochieva, Earl Wild, Leonard Pennario, Piers Lane, Byron Janis, Isador Goodman, Benjamin Grosvenor and Josef Lhévinne. His list of works includes: * Op 2: Invitation a la Valse (Jurgenson) * Op 4: Variations in G major (Jurgenson) * Op 5: Melodie (Jurgenson) * Op 6: Nocturne in F major (Jurgenson) * Op 8: Revelation I in B major (Jurgenson) * Op 9: Revelation II in E major (Jurgenson) * Op 10: Revelation III in F major (Jurgenson) * Op 11: Serenade (Jurgenson) * Op 12: “Arabesques” Variations on the Blue Danube Waltz Strauss (Jurgenson) * Op 14: Rhapsodie Russe for Piano & Orchestra (Jurgenson) * Op 17: Etude pour les octaves (Jurgenson) * Fantaisie (Johansen) * Melo

Agata Zubel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agata Zubel (born 1978 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish composer and singer. Life Zubel is a graduate of Wrocław’s Karol Szymanowski High School of Music (percussion and music theory) and the Karol Lipiński University of Music, where she studied composition with Jan Wichrowski. She is a member of the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers’ Union and a recipient of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship. Currently she teaches at the Academy of Music in Wrocław (full professor). In 2013 she was honoured by the International Music Council’s International Rostrum of Composers with the best composition title for Not I, which she wrote for soprano, instrumental ensemble and electronics. In October 2017 she was awarded the Bronze Medal “Gloria Artis”. She is an ordinary member of the Polish Composers’ Union. Selected works * Lumiere pour percussion (1997) * Nocturne for solo violin (1997) * Three Miniatures for piano (1998) * Birthday for mixed a cappella choir; text by Wisława Szymborska (1998) * A Song about the End of the World for voice, reciter and instrumental ensemble; text by Czesław Miłosz (1998) * Meditations for mixed a cappella choir; text by Jan Twardowski (19

Aleksander Szeligowski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aleksander Robert Szeligowski (24 August 1934 – 4 May 1993) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He studied in Poznań and Warsaw, later working as assistant conductor for the Poznań Philharmonic. Son of Tadeusz Szeligowski, he is the author of numerous compositions for piano, female and mixed choirs and others. Life and work Aleksander Szeligowski was born in Wilno, Poland, on 24 August 1934. He was initially educated in the class of Mariana Ochalskiego where he began playing organ, then at the State Music High School in Lublin. Later he began studying at the State School of Music in Poznań where he studied composition and organ, and at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he was a conducting student of Stanisław Wisłocki and Bohdan Wodiczko. He also studied composition under the guidance of his father, Tadeusz Szeligowski, graduating in 1959, and again in 1960 in the class of Joseph Pawlak. From 1964 to 1993 he worked at the National School of music in Poznań, where he lectured, among other disciplines, score reading, orchestration, composition and pedagogy of improvisation. In the second half of the 1960s, he worked as assistant conductor

Aleksandra Gryka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aleksandra Gryka (born 17 May 1977) is a Polish classical composer of experimental music. Her works have been performed at such festivals as the Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum and Juilliard Focus! Festival. Early life and education Aleksandra Gryka was born on 17 May 1977, in Warsaw. She started learning to play the piano at the age of six. In 2003, she graduated with honors in composition under Magdalena Długosz During her studies, she also took composition courses in Kraków, Helsinki, Buckow Gryka’s work has appeared in the repertoire of, among others, an_ARCHE new music ensemble and Kwadrofonik. was staged at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, to which Gryka composed music. The piece was inspired by the works of Stanisław Lem. Works * For D. for piano solo, 1999 * LIEN-AL for cello, harpsichord and accordion, 2000 * High3bbingNor. for symphony orchestra, 2000 * Interioryzacion for computer, 2000 * OXYGEN nr.369,1 for tape and piano, 2001 * NonStopping center for harpsichord solo, 2001 * (1”)exists as…(-1”) for flute, accordion, piano, 3 percussions and cello, 2001 * Project ien for tape, video and dancer, 2002 * JaIchIJe for string quartet and marimba, 2002 * Interialcell for instrume

Alexandre Tansman

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Alexander Tansman (, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of neoclassicism, associated with École de Paris, Tansman was a globally recognized and celebrated composer. The first artists he was fortunate to meet shortly after his arrival were Moritz Moszkowski and Sarah Bernhardt. In Paris, his musical ideas were appreciated, influenced and favoured by composers Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, Jacques Ibert, Igor Stravinsky, musicologists and critics Émile Vuillermoz, Boris de Schloezer, Alexis Roland-Manuel, Arthur Hoérée, conductors André Caplet, Gaston Poulet, Vladimir Golschmann. Though Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud tried to persuade him to join Les Six, he declined, stating a need for creative independence. Nevertheless, he was one of the earliest and leading representatives of neoclassicism, along with Stravinsky, Les Six, Sergei Prokofiev, Paul Hindemith, Alfredo Casella. He was also one of the most respected members of the international music group École de Paris, along with Bohuslav Martinů, Tibor Harsányi, Alexander Tch

Allan Gray (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Józef Żmigrod (February 23, 1902 – September 10, 1973), better known by his stage name Allan Gray, was a Polish composer active in the UK film industry from the late 1930s until the mid 1950s. Early life and education Gray was born Józef Żmigrod in Tarnów, Austria-Hungary, (present-day Poland) into a musical family: his father was a concert violinist. He studied philosophy in Heidelberg and later Berlin, where he composed a children’s opera, Wavelength ABC. There (during the 1920s) he became a student of Arnold Schoenberg, funding himself by composing jazz-influenced music for the cabaret. He later wrote music for Max Reinhardt’s theatre productions. As Schoenberg disapproved of such music, Żmigrod took up the stage name Allan Gray, naming himself after Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray. Career Gray began writing film scores in the Weimar Republic. His films there included Emil and the Detectives (1931) and The Countess of Monte Cristo (1932). and the following year they settled in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, where they lived in Bois Lane. Like many of his fellow émigré composers he was arrested (on June 26 1940) as an “enemy alien” and taken to Liverpool, and from there interned on the Isle o

Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Anatoliy Yosypovych Kos-Anatolsky (; 1 December 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a Ukrainian composer, People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1969) and winner of Shevchenko National Prize (1980), and Deputy of Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from 1970 to 1978. Biography He was born on 1 December 1909 in Kolomyia (now Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) in the family of the famous Galician doctor Yosyf Kos. In 1934 – 1937 he taught at the Stryi branch of the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute. From 1938 to 1939 he worked as a lawyer in the town of Zaliztsi. The first independent creative work was the music for performances of the Lviv Music and Drama Theater (1941). During the war he was in Western Ukraine. From 1939 he worked as an accompanist of the Lviv House of Pioneers, a teacher at a music school. After the Second World War he became a member and since 1951 chairman of the Lviv regional branch of the Union of Soviet Composers of Ukraine, worked as concertmaster of the Lviv Drama Theater, and from 1952 – a teacher at the Lviv Conservatory (since 1973 – professor). Legacy Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky is the composer of an opera, three ballets, symphonic works, a number of concertos and popular c

André Tchaikowsky

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André Tchaikowsky (also Andrzej Czajkowski; born Robert Andrzej Krauthammer; November 1, 1935 – June 26, 1982) was a Polish composer and pianist. In addition to his musical work, he is also notable for bequeathing his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use as Yorick in Hamlet. Life and career Robert Andrzej Krauthammer was born in Warsaw in 1935 into a Jewish family. He had shown musical talent from an early age, and his mother, an amateur pianist, taught him the piano from the age of four. When the Second World War broke out, they were moved into the Warsaw Ghetto. Krauthammer remained there until 1942, when he was smuggled out and provided with forged identity papers that renamed him Andrzej Czajkowski. He then went into hiding with his grandmother, Celina. The pair remained hidden until 1944, when they were caught up in the Warsaw Uprising, and they were then sent to Pruszków transit camp as ordinary Polish citizens, from which they were released in 1945. Tchaikowsky’s father, Karl Krauthammer, also survived the war, and remarried, producing a daughter, Katherine, later Krauthammer-Vogt. Tchaikowsky’s mother, Felicja Krauthammer (née Rappaport) was confined in the Warsaw

Andrzej Bujakiewicz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Andrzej Bujakiewicz (21 September 1939 – 31 March 2022) was a Polish conductor. Biography Bujakiewicz was born in Winna Góra, Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 1983, he was honored with the Honorary Badge of the City of Kalisz. Bujakiewicz was also honored with the Award of the President of the City of Kalisz in 2009. Bujakiewicz died in March 2022 in Kalisz, at the age of 82. References

Andrzej Cwojdziński

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Andrzej Cwojdziński (28 January 1928 – 23 March 2022) was a Polish composer, conductor and music teacher. He attended the Academy of Music in Kraków, where he studied composing and conducting. Cwojdziński served as the director for the Koszalin Philharmonic from 1964 to 1979. In 2020, Cwojdziński was made an honorary citizen of Koszalin. Cwojdziński died in March 2022, at the age of 94. References

Andrzej Dobrowolski

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Andrzej Dobrowolski (September 9, 1921 – August 8, 1990) was a Polish composer and teacher. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatoire during the war and afterwards in the State High School of Music in Kraków. He went on to teach theory and, later, composition in Kraków and then Warsaw at the State Higher School of Music, becoming a Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in 1976, where he taught composition and electronic music. Dobrowolski was one of the first Polish composers to concentrate on music for tape, and one of the first to pioneer the combination of pre-recorded tape and live performers. He was one of the first composers to use the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio in Warsaw, which was founded in 1958. External links *Polish Music Information Centre biography and worklist Footnotes Sources *Casken, John. 2001. “Dobrowolski, Andrzej”. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan. *Thomas, Adrian. 2005. Polish Music since Szymanowski. Music in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. * Andrzej Dobrowolski in MoMa’s post online resource devoted to art and the hi

Andrzej Kurylewicz

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Andrzej Roman Kurylewicz ( Polish pronunciation : ; 24 November 1932 – 12 April 2007), was a Polish composer, pianist, trombonist, trumpet player and conductor. His works range from classical music, including both chamber and orchestral music, to theatrical, film, ballet, and jazz. He was shaped in the tradition of classical music and pioneered Polish jazz, pursuing a parallel career. He gained nationwide popularity by writing music for Janusz Morgenstern’s 1976 TV series Polskie drogi. Life Education Kurylewicz was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His musical education began at the Lwów Music School under Stanisław Ludkiewycz when he was aged 6. From 1946 to 1950, he continued his education at the Instytut Muzyczny in Gliwice. Between 1950 and 1954, he studied classical piano under Henryk Sztompka and composition under Stanisław Wiechowicz at the Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Muzyczna in Kraków. In 1954, he was excluded from academic life owing to Kurylewicz’s professional involvement with jazz and his refusal to join the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR, or Polish Communist Party). Career In 1954, by invitation of Władysław Szpilman, Kurylewicz accepted a ful

Andrzej Panufnik

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Sir Andrzej Panufnik ( pronounced : ; 24 September 1914 – 27 October 1991) was a Polish composer and conductor. He became established as one of the leading Polish composers, and as a conductor he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the Warsaw Philharmonic orchestra after World War II. He also served as Principal Conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra. After his increasing frustration with the extra-musical demands made on him by the country’s regime, he defected to the United Kingdom in 1954, and took up British citizenship. In 1957, he was appointed chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a post he relinquished after two years to devote all his time to composition. In 1984, he became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1991 the composer received a British knighthood for his services to music. Biography Childhood and studies Panufnik was born in Warsaw, the second son of a violinist mother and an amateur (but renowned) violin-maker father. From an early age he was torn between an interest in music and a fascination with the mechanics of aeroplanes. His grandmother gave him piano lessons, but although he showed talent his stu

Andrzej Szpilman

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Andrzej Szpilman (born March 28, 1956) is a Polish dentist, composer, music producer, publisher, and son of the pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman. Biography Szpilman started his music education in 1962 under Prof. S. Kawalla (violin) and later from 1965 until 1974 in the 4th State School of Music in Warsaw (class of Prof. Nasalska violin and later viola). In 1976, he started to record for Polish Radio as a composer and music producer. He has worked with Polish singers Irena Santor, Hanna Banaszak, Grażyna Świtała, Bogusław Mec, accompanied by the Warsaw Radio Orchestra and Poznań Radio Orchestra. In 1980-81, as a music director, Szpilman produced several shows for TV-Poland. From 1982-83 he became the producer of the first record by the 1980s Polish group, “Oddział Zamknięty” (Close Department), which sold about 450.000 records in 1983 and received “Gold Record 83” from the Polish Recording Company. Besides his artistic activities he studied Dentistry at the Warsaw Medical Academy. In 1983 he moved to Hamburg, Germany, and until 1988 he worked as an assistant professor at the Conservative Dentistry Department of the University of Hamburg, while continuing to work at his own d

Andrzej Trzaskowski

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Andrzej Trzaskowski (23 March 1933 – 16 September 1998) was a Polish jazz musician, composer and musicologist. From the mid-1950s onward, he was regarded as an authority on syncopated music. Biography Early life and education Andrzej Trzaskowski was born in Kraków on 23 March 1933. He began playing piano at age four and founded his first jazz band, Rhythm Quartet. He attended Jan III Sobieski High School in Kraków and collaborated with prominent Polish jazz pianists. His paternal grandfather, Bronisław Trzaskowski, established some of the first girls’ secondary schools in Poland. Trzaskowski died in Warsaw on 16 September 1998, aged 65. He is buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery. Selected recordings * The Wreckers (1960, Muza 0133) * Polish Jazz Vol. 4 (1965, Muza 0258) * Andrzej Trzaskowski Sextet Featuring Ted Curson “Seant” (1966, Muza 0378) References Further reading *Liner notes (in English) for the recording of Andrzej Trzaskowski’s Polish Jazz Quintet (includes a biographical sketch and an analysis of Trzaskowski’s jazz compositions) External links * *Andrzej Trzaskowski filmography at Film Polski

Anna Maria Klechniowska

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Anna Maria Klechniowska (15 April 1888 – 28 Aug 1973) was a Polish music educator and composer. She was born in Borowka, Ukraine, and studied at the Warsaw and Lemberg (Lviv) Conservatories, and then in Leipzig and Paris. She graduated from the Vienna Academy in 1917, after studying with Lech Jaczynowski, Gustaw Roguski, Mieczyslaw Soltys, Josef Pembaur, , Stephan Krehl, Klara Czop-Umlauf, Franz Schmidt and Nadia Boulanger. After completing her studies, she worked as a teacher and arts administrator. She died in Warsaw. Works Klechniowska was known for piano works for young children and vocal compositions. Selected works include: *A Wedding Overture, for orchestra (1955) *The Seasons of the Year, symphonic suite (1953) *The Royal Castle in Cracow, symphonic poem *Phantasma, ballet-pantomime in 6 scenes, (1964) References

Anton de Kontski

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Anton de Kontski (25 September 18167 December 1899) was a Polish-American pianist and composer. He was also known as Antoni Kątski and Antoine de Kontski, sometimes with the appellation “Chevalier.” Early life Born in Kraków, Anton de Kontski was one of five children, all musical. His sister Eugenia (b. 1816) was a singer; brother Stanislaw (b. 1820) a pianist who taught piano in Paris and composed salon pieces; brother Apolinary (1825–1879) a virtuoso violinist, composer and teacher who debuted at age five at the St. Petersburg court, studied with Paganini, toured Europe, and finally settled in Warsaw where in 1860 he founded the Music Institute; and brother Karol (1815–1867), violinist and composer, member of the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Career Anton himself was a pianist and composer, a student of John Field in Moscow and a child prodigy. He also studied composition with Simon Sechter and piano with Sigismond Thalberg in Vienna. In 1845, in Paris, he performed in a concert at the Czartoryski salon together with Frédéric Chopin. In 1849, he appeared in concerts in Spain and Portugal. Kontski reorganized the National Conservatory in Lisbon and for his efforts was a

Antoni Kocipiński

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Antoni Kocipiński (1816 – 26 May 1866) was a Polish composer, musician, and music publisher. He was mostly active in what is now Ukraine, at the time the areas where he operated were part of the Austrian Empire. Life and career Kocipiński was born in Andrychów in 1816. He received education in Lviv, studied piano, organ, and composition with his father, an organist at the Lviv Cathedral, and served for ten years in the Austrian military orchestra in Chernivtsi. In 1845–46, Kocipiński moved to Kamianets-Podilskyi. Kocipiński gave music lessons (Among his pupils was Vladyslav Zaremba) and worked in a music store. At the same time, he began to collect and transcribe Ukrainian folk songs. In 1849, Kocipiński was exiled for possessing banned poems by Juliusz Słowacki, living in Vienna. He later returned to Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1852–53. From 1855, he lived in Kyiv. He published music and opened music stores in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kyiv, Chișinău, and Zhytomyr. Kocipiński popularized Ukrainian folk songs as well as publishing works of local composers. While under police surveillance, he organized weekly musical evenings. The musician performed as a tenor and was a skilled harmonium solo

Antoni Radziwiłł

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Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (; 13 June 1775 – 7 April 1833) was a Polish–Lithuanian and Prussian noble, aristocrat, musician, and politician. Initially a hereditary Duke of Nieśwież and Ołyka, as a scion of the Radziwiłł family he also held the honorific title of a Reichsfürst of the Holy Roman Empire. Between 1815 and 1831 he acted as Duke-Governor (, ) of the Grand Duchy of Posen, an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia created out of Greater Polish lands annexed in the Partitions of Poland. Early life Antoni Radziwiłł was born on 13 June 1775 in Vilnius to Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł and Helena née Przeździecka. He studied at the University of Göttingen, like his other brothers: the elder Ludwik Mikołaj and the younger Michał Gedeon and Andrzej Walenty. One of his sisters was Aniela Radziwiłł (who married Prince Konstanty Adam Czartoryski). His father was the second son of Prince Marcin Mikołaj Radziwiłł and, his second wife, Marta Trembicka. His maternal grandparents were Antoni Przeździecki and Katarzyna Ogińska. After his maternal grandmother’s death, his mother was raised by her aunt, Aleksandra Czartoryska, the wife of Michał Kazimierz Ogiński. The high standing o

Antoni Stolpe

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Antoni Stolpe (23 May 1851 – 7 September 1872) was a Polish composer and pianist. Life Antoni Stolpe was born in Puławy, Congress Poland, as a descendant of a musical family. His first teacher of music was his father, Edward, a pianist under whom Antoni Stolpe developed piano skills; he also studied at the Warsaw Conservatory where he simultaneously studied harmony and counterpoint with August Freyer and later with Stanisław Moniuszko. This time marks his first efforts in the field of composition, e.g. he wrote the vocal piece O Salutaris Hostia in 1866. In 1867 the sixteen-year-old Antoni Stolpe completed his education at the Conservatory with a “grand prize” in piano and a first prize in counterpoint and in 1868–69 he gave three concerts in Warsaw, performing as a pianist and conductor. During these concerts, several of his orchestral works, chamber, piano and vocal compositions were presented. For those performances Antoni Stolpe received splendid reviews from critics as both a gifted composer and pianist. An income from the mentioned concerts enabled him to travel in 1869 to Berlin where he studied composition and counterpoint with Friedrich Kiel and perfected his playing techn

Antonio Casimir Cartellieri

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Antonio Casimir Cartellieri (27 September 1772 – 2 September 1807) was a Polish-Austrian composer, violinist, conductor, and voice teacher. His reputation dissipated after his death, not to be resurrected until the late 20th century. One son was the spa physician Paul Cartellieri. Another, Josef Cartellieri, compiled some largely second-hand biographical notes about the father he scarcely knew. Life and career Cartellieri was born in Gdańsk, Poland. His father, Antonio Maria Gaetano Cartellieri, was Italian, and his mother, Elisabeth Böhm, was Latvian of Baltic German origin. Both of his parents were opera singers and he received his earliest musical education from them. When he was 13, his parents divorced, at which time Cartellieri moved with his mother to Berlin. In that city he began studying music composition. In 1791, at the age of 18, Cartellieri became court composer and music director for Michał Kazimierz Ogiński in Poland. In 1793, he returned to Berlin with his employer where his first opera premiered successfully. He then went with the Count to Vienna, where he continued with further musical studies in music theory and composition under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and

Apolinary Szeluto

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Apolinary Szeluto (23 July 1884 – 22 August 1966) was a Polish pianist and composer of the Young Poland style. Life and career Apolinary Szeluto was born in St. Petersburg, and began the study of piano at age nine. He studied music at the Saratov Conservatory with Stanislav Echsner, composition at the Warsaw Conservatory from 1902 to 1905 with Roman Statkowski and Zygmunt Noskowski, and piano performance in Berlin from 1905 to 1908 with Leopold Godowsky. He also completed studies in law at the University of Dorpat. After completing his education, he worked as a concert pianist, actively performing from 1909 until 1931. In 1909 Szeluto took a position as a professor at the Berlin Conservatory, and later relocated to work as a judge near Astrachan, Russia. He took part in the Russian Revolution, and was named Chairman of the local Revolutionary Committee. Afterward he worked for a time in the Ministry of Justice in Poland. His compositions from this period reflected his dedication to the ideal of Socialist realism. In 1934 he settled in Słupca in Greater Poland, where he worked as a notary and later as a judge. When the Nazis occupied Poland, he worked as a baker and street trader, w

August Freyer

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Karol August Freyer (15 December 1801 – 28 May 1883) was a Polish musician and composer, specializing in both performance and composition on the organ. Biography Freyer was born in Saxony in 1801. He moved to Warsaw and began his musical career there as a double bass player. He became organist at the Warsaw Evangelical Church, had the organ rebuilt, and turned his church into a prominent musical location At an early age Stanisław Moniuszko became his pupil, his parents relocated to Warsaw to have Stanisław study with Freyer. He died in 1883. Style Freyer was largely responsible for the revival of organ music in Poland. He was a master at music balance, both homophonic and polyphonic. His playing was appreciated by Felix Mendelssohn and Louis Spohr. In addition to the aforementioned German concerts, he toured Paris to an enthusiastic reception. His most famous composition was a set of Concert Variations of which the final-movement fugue is the most recognized. References External links * Scores by August Freyer in digital library Polona

Barbara Buczek

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Barbara Buczek (9 January 1940 – 17 January 1993) was a Polish composer and music teacher who taught at the Academy of Music in Kraków. Early life and education Barbara Buczek was born on 9 January 1940 in Kraków. She began learning to play the piano under her father’s instruction, She studied with Kazimierz Mirski and Maria Bilińska-Regierowa at the State Music School (now the Academy of Music) in Kraków, and graduated from the latter’s piano class in 1959. Buczek then continued her piano studies with Ludwik Stefański from 1959 to 1965, before studying composition with Bogusław Schaeffer between 1969 and 1974. She graduated with distinction from both classes. Career Buczek stayed at the State Music School as a teacher, and taught piano, counterpoint and composition there. Works *Sonata breve per pianoforte (1968) 5'20" (Ariadne) *Mikrosonata for violin solo (1968) 2'45" (Ariadne) *Study No. 1, for flute (1968) 4'10" (Ariadne) *String Quartet no. 1 (1968) 8'18" *Quintet for wind instruments (1969) 7'20" (Ariadne) *Intermezzo for piano and instrumnets (1969) 5'50" *Koncert wokalny Vocal Concerto for twelve solo voices (1969) *Fuga *Study for violin solo (1970) 2'40" (Ariadne) *Metaf

Barbara Jazwinski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Barbara Jazwinski is a Polish-American composer and pianist known for her contributions to contemporary music. She is Head of the Composition Program at the Newcomb Music Department, Tulane University in New Orleans. She was honored with the Prince Pierre of Monaco Composition Award for her work on the Sextet, and she also secured the top position in the Nicola De Lorenzo Composition Contest for her composition of Music for Chamber Orchestra. Education She studied composition and theory at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and earned her M.A. in composition and piano from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in composition from the City University of New York. Career Jazwinski’s music has been selected for programming at Diffrazioni Multimedia Festival in Florence, the London Festival of American Music, Laboratorium Muzyki Wspolczesnej in Poland, Washington Square Contemporary Music Series, the New York University New Music Ensemble, and the International Music by Women Festival in Oxford, Mississippi. Her works have been performed or recorded by ensembles and organizations such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra of Cracow, the Kos

Barbara Maria Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Barbara Maria Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk (Poznań, 1 January 1946 – Poznań, 30 November 2023) was a Polish composer and musicologist. She studied composition with Florian Dąbrowski at the Poznań Academy of Music, graduating in 1969. She finished her postgraduate studies in library and information science in 1974; two years later she received a doctorate at the Institute of History, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She studied electronic music for three months in Utrecht, Netherlands, in 1981, and in Oxford, England. Life and career Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk began working in the music collection of the Poznań University Library in 1972. From 1982 through 1998 she was the chair of the Polish national committee of the Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) in New York, and through this time she prepared over 800 abstracts of Polish music books and articles. In 1996 she began working as a bibliographer for another database project, the Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (Répertoire International de la Presse Musicale; RIPM), and by 2000 she fully indexed five Polish music periodicals published during the 19th century (Echo Muzyczne, 1879-1882; Ruch Muzyczny, 1857-18

Bartłomiej Pękiel

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Bartłomiej Pękiel (; b. ca. 1600; fl. from 1633; d. ca. 1670) was a Polish composer of baroque music. Biography The writer and composer Johann Mattheson claimed that the composer was German and his name is sometimes recorded as “Peckel”. Pękiel served the court in Warsaw from about 1633. After the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655 he then moved to Wawel Cathedral Chapel in Kraków, where he was Kapellmeister after the death of Franciszek Lilius in 1657. After 1664 there are few references to him; the next Kapellmeister was appointed in 1670. 29 of Pękiel’s works survive, mostly in manuscript. The musicologist Bartłomiej Gembicki divides these into two stages; early baroque (Warsaw) and church music in the style of (Kraków). He wrote the only Polish church oratorio , on the topic of The Last Judgement. Works Choral * (CATB) * (ATTB) * (ATTB) * (CATB + CATB) * * (ATTB) * (ATTB) * (ATTB) * . Motet (ATTB) * . Motet (ATTB) * . Motet (ATTB) * . Motet (CATB) * . Motet (CATB) * . Motet (CATB) * . Motet, (ATTB) * . Motet, (ATTB) * , Motet, (ATTB) * . Motet (ATTB) Instrumental * (for 3 viole da gamba, six voices and basso continuo) * (“Three Polish Dances”): Uroczysty (moderato) - Dostojny (

Bartosz Chajdecki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bartosz Chajdecki (born 28 September 1980) is a Polish film music composer. Biography He started composing at the age of 12. Four years later, he was already working with the Akne Theatre in Kraków, including on the play “A Little Requiem for Kantor”, which was staged in England, Germany, France, Brazil. He received the Fringe First award at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival for it. He has worked for the Yale School of Drama, the New York School of Visual Arts and the Samuel Beckett Theatre in London, among others. In 2004, he graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Kraków. Composer of music for feature films and TV e.g. The Duel, Simona Kossak, Gods, Breaking the Limits, Little Rose 2, Feast of Fire, The Champion of Auschwitz, Colors of Evil: Red, Life feels good, I’m a Killer, My Daughters of the Cow, Baczynski, Warsaw Uprising, Animals, Le temps d’Anna, the TV series Furia (season 2), Raven, The Behaviourist, Chyłka, Langer, Mission Afghanistan, A Vote of No Confidence, Days of Honor. Winner of the Transatlantyk Oceans Award granted by composer Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, the special “Bo wARTo!” award as part of RMF Classic’s MocArt and the Polish Soundtrack of t

Bazyli Bohdanowicz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bazyli Bohdanowicz (born in Eastern Lesser Poland in 1740, died on 23 February 1817 in Vienna) was a Polish violinist and composer. He was a member of the orchestra in the Leopoldstädter Theater after moving to Vienna in 1775. He and his wife performed unconventional concerts in Vienna in the years 1785-1803 accompanied by their eight children. Some of the pieces performed included: the 3-part sonata for violin Les prémices du monde (played on one instrument by three children), Non plus ultra for four female voices and violin (played on one instrument by three children and the father), the three-part Sinfonía vocale ed origínale senza parole (for 8 vocal voices, choir, and pipes called Sprach-tone), Aria con variazioni for solo soprano, andantino with variations Rareté extraordinaire de la musique for piano for 8 hands, concerto with cadenza Europa’s Erstling (for three vocal voices accompanied by a whistle and orchestra). Bohdanowicz’s circus performances sparked criticism and earned him the nickname of a “musical charlatan”. He composed a symphony in which he adapted motifs from Polish folk music, one vocal symphony, polonaises and other dances, two violin duets, other works of c

Bernadetta Matuszczak

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bernadetta Matuszczak (10 March 1937 – 3 September 2021 ) was a Polish composer. She was born in Toruń, Poland, and studied with Zygmunt Sitowski for music theory and with Irena Kurpisz-Stefanowa for piano at the State Higher School of Music in Poznań. Later she studied with Tadeusz Szeligowski and Kazimierz Sikorski for composition at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw (now the F. Chopin Academy of Music). She continued her education in composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1968. After completing her studies, she worked as a composer. Her works have been performed internationally. Honors and awards *Prize from the Young Polish Composers’ Competition, Association of Polish Composers (1965) *Prizes from the Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition for Composers (1966) *Jeunesses Musicales Competition (1967) *Prix Italia for radio opera-oratoria (1973, 1979) Works Selected works include: *Septem Tubae, 1969 *Juliet and Romeo, chamber opera, 1972 *Diary of a Fool, opera monodrama, 1976 *Musica da camera per 3 flauti, 4 timpani e 5 tom-toms (1967) *Humanae voces, (1970–71) *Apocalypsis according to St. John, (1976–77) *Ballet Miniatures for orchestra (1985) *Notturno - Karol Szyma

Bettina Skrzypczak

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bettina Skrzypczak (born 25 January 1963) is a Polish/Swiss composer. Biography Skrzypczak was born in Poznań, Poland. She studied piano at Bydgoszcz and music at the Academy of Music in Poznan. In 1985 she graduated with a degree in music theory, and in 1988 with a degree in composition, studying with Andrzej Koszewski. From 1984-88 she studied with Witold Lutoslawski, Luigi Nono, Henri Pousseur, and Iannis Xenakis in composition courses organised in Kazimierz by the Polish section of the ISCM. In 1988 she studied electronic music with Thomas Kessler and composition with Rudolf Kelterborn in Basel, Switzerland. She also studied musicology with Jürg Stenzl and complementary studies in cultural philosophy with Hans Saner in Fribourg. In 1990 she studied computer music with Klarenz Barlow in Cologne. In 1999 she received a doctorate degree from the Academy of Music in Kraków. In 2002 Skrzypczak took a position as a professor at the Music University Lucerne. She also served as a guest lecturer at schools and universities including the International Courses of New Music in Darmstadt in 2004, the European Chamber Music Academy, Hannover, and Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich. Skr

Bolesław Szabelski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bolesław Szabelski (3 December 1896 in Radoryż – 27 August 1979 in Katowice) was a Polish composer of modern classical music. While his style shifted and varied over the course of his life, he is best known for his atonal work composed during the 1950s and 1960s. Szabelski studied at the Polish Musical Society School with Łysakowski in 1915. He attended the Warsaw Conservatory under Karol Szymanowski. Between 1929 and 1939, he taught organ and composition at the Conservatoire of Katowice. Szabelski began working in the neoclassical and romanticism modes typical of the early 20th century. He adopted the serialist technique in the 1950s and was one of a number of Polish New Wave composers to embrace atonality. His early work had been characterised by monumental forms and fanfare motifs and Szabelski adapted to the new aesthetic while retaining his old signatures. As a result, he developed a style described as “strikingly innovative”. He composed five symphonies (1926, 1934, 1951, 1956 and 1968), as well as concertos, chamber and choral works. Szabelski was highly influential on the “New Polish School” composers of the early 1950s and had a formative influence on his student Henryk Mi

Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski (born 11 December 1941 in Łódź, died 4 April 2011 in Łódź) was a Polish composer and educator. Biography He studied at the Academy of Music in Łódź where he received a diploma in music theory from Franciszek Wesołowski in 1964 and a diploma in composition under Tomasz Kiesewetter in 1969. He also studied under Bolesław Szabelski in Katowice and with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik. From 1965, he was an academic teacher at the Academy of Music in Łódź, and starting in 1987 taught composition there – first as an associate professor, and later as a full professor (from 1992 until his death). In the years 1978–1981 he was the Vice-Rector for Didactic Affairs at his alma mater, from 1987 to 1990 the Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Theory of Music and Eurhythmics, and in the years 1991–2011 the head of the Department of Composition. In 1982 he initiated “Musica Moderna”, a program that presents contemporary works of Polish and foreign composers twice each academic year. Selected works * In honorem Nicolai Copernici for orchestra (1972) * Memento for orchestra (1973) * Guernica – Pablo Picasso in memoriam for orchestra (1974)

Cezary Skubiszewski

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Cezary Jan Skubiszewski (born 1948) is a Polish-born Australian film and television composer whose work has received international acclaim winning numerous awards. Most notably Cezary is the recipient of four Australian Academy Film Television Awards (AACTA). He composed the film scores for Two Hands (1999), Death Defying Acts (2008) Red Dog (2011), The Sapphires (2012) and the TV series, Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018). Personal life and education Skubiszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. His mother was a classical pianist. Skubiszewski, himself began piano lessons at 8 years of age and received a classical musical education over a period of 10 years under the tutelage of the choir director of the Warsaw Opera. In the late 1960s, Skubiszewski played in bands including ACB with other Warsaw musicians such as Aleksander Bem. He then spent one year in Paris and did not return to Poland due to the nation’s political situation and his own sense of wanderlust. They have two children, Viva Bianca and Jan Skubiszewski. Both work in the Australian entertainment industry. Career In Australia, during 1978 and 1979, Skubiszewski played the Moog synthesizer, Rhodes piano and Clavinet in his jazz

Cyprian Bazylik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cyprian Bazylik (c. 1535 in Sieradz – c. 1600) was a Polish composer, usually designated as C.B. or C.S. (Cyprian of Sieradz). Besides writing music, he was also a writer, poet, and printer. Biography He was a townsman from Sieradz. In the semester of 1550/1551 he matriculated at the Krakow Academy. He had already leaned towards Calvinism. He created poetic and musical works. Thanks to the support of Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Black, he received a position in the chancellery of Sigismund Augustus in Vilno. In 1557 he met Jacob Heraclides Basilicus and with his support was ennobled under his patron’s coat of arms and name, as well as the title poeta laureatus. In 1558 he went to Lithuania, where he became a musician and rhyme-maker at the court of Mikolaj Radziwill the Black (along with Wacław of Szamotuły, who was already there). In 1569 he was secretary to Sieradz voivode Olbracht Łaski. He also soon married Agnes Lern, daughter of Stanislaw, a townsman from Krakow. He was a chanceller, printer and translator of Calvinist publications. In 1569-1570 he was the owner of the Radziwill printing house in Brest. He held the office of alderman in Mielnik and in the affiliated village of Orlov

Czesław Lewicki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Czesław Lewicki (26 April 1906 – 16 March 1979) was a Polish composer. He has been recognized as one of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations for his efforts to rescue the Polish-Jewish composer Władysław Szpilman during the Holocaust in Poland. Biography Before the war Lewicki was born in Mołczany on 26 April 1906. In 1935 he graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied under . From 1935 to 1938 he worked in Wilno (today Vilnius, Lithuania) as an orchestra conductor and lecturer at Karłowicz’s Wilno Conservatory (Konserwatorium Wileńskie im. Karłowicza), as well as an conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Council of Artistic Associations (Rada Zrzeszeń Artystycznych) and the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra (Wileńskia Orkiestra Symfoniczna). Lewicki regularly visited the apartment, bringing food and other necessities for Szpilman. Lewicki was also active in the Polish resistance (Armia Krajowa) and became wanted by Gestapo. He carried a suicide pill in his teeth. In June he advised Szpilman to leave the apartment due to fear that Germans might come looking for him in that apartment (Szpilman chose to stay there until the situation forced him to leave it on 12 August).

Damian Stachowicz

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Damian Stachowicz (June 23, 1658 in Sokołów Małopolski – November 27, 1699 in Łowicz) was a Polish composer. His baptismal name was Jan (Joannes). At the age of 17 he entered the monastic order of the Piarists in Rzeszów and took on the name Damian of the Most Holy Trinity (Damianus à SS. Trinitate). On 9 June 1675 he received the religious habit, and as early as 6 August of the same year he arrived at Podolinec, where he stayed until 1677 teaching the classes in poetry and rhetoric, as well as performing musical tasks. Since 1678 he had resided in the monastery in Prievidza, and studied philosophy and theology. Most probably he was still occupied with music (which we can surmise on the basis of a large number of compositions mentioned in the music inventory of that place). In the years 1681–1690 he worked in Warsaw where on 21 December 1685 he was ordained to the priesthood. We may also find more detailed information about his musical responsibilities (“mgr chori et Musices”), which included education of the youth. Since 1691 Stachowicz had dwelled in Łowicz and his duties were to conduct the choir, to teach rhetoric and theology, to head the school (at least since 1696) and final

Diomedes Cato

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Diomedes Cato (1560 to 1565 – d.1627 in Gdansk) was an Italian-born composer and lute player, who lived and worked entirely in Poland and Lithuania. He is known mainly for his instrumental music. He mixed the style of the late Renaissance with the emerging Baroque, and also Italian idioms with Polish folk material; and in addition he was one of the first native-born Italian composers to visit Sweden. Life He was born near Treviso between 1560 and 1565, possibly at Serravale where his father is documented as being a teacher. Around 1565 his family, who were Protestants, fled Italy to escape the Inquisition, and settled in Poland. Cato, who had left Italy before the age of five, received all of his musical education in Kraków, where the family settled. The first record of his employment dates from 1588, when he was hired as a lutenist by the court of King Sigismund III Vasa, a position he kept until 1593. In 1591 he wrote music for the wedding of Jan Kostka at Świecie castle; the Kostka family may have been patrons of his, since Stanisław Kostka left him a considerable legacy in 1602. In 1593 and 1594 he went with King Sigismund to Sweden, where his fame as a lutenist and composer wa

Edward Olearczyk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Edward Olearczyk (born 4 March 1915, d. 1994) was a Polish composer. He was born in Rawa Ruska into a Jewish family, and studied with Zbigniew Drzewiecki at the conservatory in Warsaw. From 1939 to 1945 he worked in the USSR, and after returning to Poland, worked in Warsaw as a stage director in the Polish Army. Olearczyk was known primarily as a composer of popular songs. In 1948 he won the Ministry of Culture and Arts competition for popular songs. In 1952 he initiated the radio shows, “We sing songs: learning songs on the radio.” His songs enjoyed great popularity, some even outside the country, especially in the USSR. In 1952, he received the Gold Cross of Merit Award and in 1957 an award from the city of Warsaw. In 1957 he moved to Israel and died there in 1994. He married his wife Tamara prior to their immigration to Israel in 1957, along with their son Alon Oleartchik (then Alexi Olearczyk), who is currently a famous musician in Israel. His grandson is Israeli actor and past member of American indie rock band Big Thief, Max Oleartchik. Works Selected works include: *Melodie miłości (1952–53) - musical comedy, Miroslaw Łebkowski libretto *Chłopska kołysanka (sł. Wacław Stępie

Ela Orleans

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Ela Orleans (born 1971 in Oświęcim, commonly known by its German name of Auschwitz) is a Polish composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. Personal Life and Musical Career Orleans lives and works between Paris, Glasgow, and Warsaw. Various independent labels around the world since 2008 have released her solo studio albums, as well as compilations, mixes and collaborations with artists such as Dirty Beaches, U.S. Girls and The Pastels. Orleans has scored music for TV, film, and opera. Discography Hassle Hound * Scaring the Grass in the Garden (2002, Pickled Egg) * Sun & Hassle Hound (2003, Textile; split with Sun) * “Appalachian Listening Post” (2004, Twisted Nerve; single) * Limelight Cordial (2006, Staubgold) * Born in a Night (2010, Staubgold) Ela Orleans solo * Low Sun, High Moon (2008, Setola di Maiale) * Ahata/Anahata (2009, La Station Radar; collaboration with Skitter) * Lost (2009, La Station Radar) * The Strongest Walls Open as I Pass (2010, La Station Radar; collaboration with Skitter) * Double Feature (2011, Night People, La Station Radar; split with Dirty Beaches) * Mars Is Heaven (2011, La Station Radar, Atelier Ciseaux) * NEO PI-R (2011, Clan Destine; compilation) * S

Elżbieta Sikora

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Elżbieta Sikora (born 20 October 1943 ) is a Polish composer who has been resident in France since 1981. She has composed stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and electroacoustic works as well as film scores. Sikora studied under Pierre Schaeffer, François Bayle, the Prix de la Partition Pédagogique and the Prix Stéphane Chapelier-Clergue-Gabriel-Marie, both from SACEM (both 1994) and the SACD Prix Nouveau Talent Musique (1996). Her operas are Ariadna (1977), Derrière son Double (1983), Waste Land (1983), La Clef De Verre (1986). References External links * * Elżbieta Sikora at PWMEdition *Taming the Machine: An Interview with Elżbieta Sikora

Emanuel Schlechter

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Emanuel Schlechter (born 9 October 1904, Lwów – died November 11, 1943, also: Szlechter, Olgierd Lech) was a Polish-Jewish artist, lyricist, screenwriter, librettist, writer, satirist, translator, composer and director, and occasional actor. He was one of the most influential creators of interwar Polish popular music in the 1930s, whose songs became deeply embedded in Polish language and culture. He was also the author of the famed “Tango of Death”, according to Simon Weisenthal, the famed Janowska survivor, and who captured Adolf Eichmann Biography Emanuel Schlechter was born in Lwów, then part of Austria-Hungary and later interwar Poland, into a Polonized Jewish family. His father Jakub Szlechter worked as a house painter. His family lived in modest conditions in the Zamarstynów district of Lwów. His brother was Emil Henryk Schlechter, a famed lawyer in Paris and expert of Assyria He attended the prestigious State Gymnasium named after Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski in Lwów, graduating in 1923 with a “sufficient” result in his matura examinations. During his school years, he developed early literary and performance interests, and according to later recollections, he was already acti

Emil Młynarski

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Emil Szymon Młynarski (; 18 July 18705 April 1935) was a Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue. Life Młynarski was born in Kibarty (Kybartai), Russian Empire, now in Lithuania. He studied violin with Leopold Auer and composition with Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He was the founding conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently served as principal conductor of the Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow from 1910 to 1916. He conducted the premiere of Karol Szymanowski’s opera King Roger. He composed, among other things, a symphony dedicated to his homeland (Symphony in F major, Op. 14, Polonia), and two violin concertos (1897, 1917). The latter concerto, in D major, Op. 16, has been recorded by Konstanty Kulka and Nigel Kennedy. Emil Młynarski died in Warsaw at age 64. His daughter Wanda married Wiktor Łabuński. His daughter Aniela (Nela, Nelly) married Mieczysław Munz and later Arthur Rubinstein. He is the grandfather of John Rubinstein and the great-grandfather of Michael Weston, both American actors. He is closely related to the famous Polish poet and singer Wojciech Młynarski (1941–2017) and his daughter Agata Młynarska (born 1965), a Polish

Eta Tyrmand

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Eta Moiseyevna Tyrmand (; ; February 23, 1917 – April 29, 2008 ) was a Belarusian composer. Life and career Eta Tyrmand was born in Warsaw. She graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory in choral performance in 1938, and from the Belarusian State Conservatory in classical piano and composition in 1952. She located in Minsk in 1939, and during World War II lived in Frunze. She taught for nearly 40 years at the Belarusian State Conservatory where she trained several generations of highly accomplished musicians. References

Eugeniusz Knapik

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Eugeniusz Knapik (born July 9, 1951, in Ruda Śląska) is a Polish pianist and composer of classical music best known for his 1980 chamber piece String Quartet No. 1. Knapik studied composition and piano with Henryk Górecki (1933–2010) and Czesław Stańczyk at the University of Music in Katowice. As a pianist, he has recorded widely, mainly in 20th-century music. He has won numerous prizes for his compositions, including at the Festival of Polish Piano Interpretation in Słupsk, and the International Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Along with Andrzej Krzanowski and Aleksander Lasoń, Knapik is generally seen as a leading member of the composers who emerged in Poland during the mid-1970s. This group was collectively named Stalowa Wola after the city at which they stated their manifesto at a 1975 festival of music sub-titled “From young composers to a young City”. Their statement read, “The work of the composers who entered their artistic lives at the festivals in Stalowa Wola was a kind of opposition to the 1950s and 60s avant-garde: opposition towards novelty for novelty’s sake, and towards total destruction. This opposition was a spontaneous, intuitive, deep-rooted reaction, which

Ewa Michnik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ewa Barbara Michnik-Szynalska (born 15 February 1943) is a Polish conductor and artistic administrator. From 1995 until 2016 she was the chief director and artistic director for the Wroclaw Opera. Career Michnik was born in Bochnia, a small town in the southern part of Poland in February 15, 1943. She graduated from the State Higher School of Music in 1972, and then studied under Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. From 1972-1978 she was the conductor for the Zielona Góra Philharmonic. From 1981 until 1995 she was the general and artistic director of the Krakow Opera. From 1995 until 2016 Michnik was the director of the Wrorclaw Opera in Poland. In 1997, Ewa started working on opera super-performances with the team of the Wroclaw Opera. She conducted all the parts of Richard Wagner’s Tetralogy, Ring of the Nibelung, Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods, she is the second woman in the world to have conducted the whole tetralogy. As of 2022, Michnik was the only female conductor who was older than 55 to hold a permanent position as an orchestral conductor. Awards and honors Michnik was award the title of honorary professor in musical art in 2000. In 2007 she was awarded the Cross of M

Feliks Janiewicz

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Feliks Janiewicz, in English often Felix Yaniewicz (1762 – 21 May 1848) was a Polish composer and violinist in exile. Life Janiewicz was born in Vilnius, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now in Lithuania), in 1762. At an early age, he was violinist at the Polish Royal Chapel, after which he travelled to Vienna about 1785 to see and listen to Haydn and Mozart. From Austria, he accompanied a Polish princess to Italy, to refine his artistic abilities with the Italian masters of that day, where he lived for three years. In Paris, he appeared at the Concerts Spirituels in December 1787, and was described in the Mercure de France as a pupil of the Italian violinist Giovanni Giornovich and was immediately recognised by the Parisians as an artist of high rank. There he was employed by the Duc d’Orléans and for a short time he enjoyed the pension of a musician on the establishment of Mlle. d’Orléans; on the outbreak of the revolution he left France for London in 1790 and did not reappear until his 1792 London debut at Salomon’s Concerts among others. During the subsequent years he expanded his violin performances and musical pursuits to Manchester, Liverpool, and Ireland. In Liverpool, he me

Filaret Kolessa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Filaret Mykhailovych Kolessa (; 17 July 18713 March 1947) was a Ukrainian composer, ethnographer, folklorist, musicologist and literary critic. He was a member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society from 1909, from 1929, and the founder of Ukrainian ethnographic musicology. Biography Filaret Mykhailovych Kolessa was born on 17 July 1871 in the Galician village of Tatarske, now the village of Pishchany, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. He studied at the University of Vienna under the composer Anton Bruckner from 1891 to 1892, and completed his studies at the Lviv University in 1896. Filaret taught in high schools in Lviv, Stryi, and Sambir. He worked with the composer Mykola Lysenko, and the writers Ivan Franko and Lesya Ukrainka. In 1918, he defended his dissertation at the University of Vienna and received the title Doctor of Philology. He studied the rhythms of Ukrainian folk songs of Galicia, Volhynia and Lemkivshchyna. From 1939 he was a professor at Lviv University, from 1940 the director of the State museum of Ethnography in Lviv, director of the Lviv section, of the Institute for Art studies, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (from 1940), and a part

Franciszek Zachara

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Franciszek Zachara (b Tarnów, Austrian Poland (now Poland), 10 December 1898; d Tallahassee, Florida, United States, 2 February 1966) was a Polish pianist and composer who concertized extensively throughout Europe in the years leading up to 1928. He was a professor of piano at a Polish conservatory from 1922–1928, and two American colleges from around this time until his death in 1966. Zachara composed well over 150 works, including many works for piano solo, a piano concerto, a symphony, several works for band, and various chamber pieces. The archive of his manuscripts is held at the Warren D. Allen Music Library at Florida State University. Most of these manuscripts are originals (or copies) from the composer’s own hand. Biography Franciszek Zachara was born in Tarnów, Austrian Poland to parents Ludwig and Maria (Kapłańska) Zachara on December 10, 1898. He was educated in the State Gymnasium in Warsaw, and graduated from the Imperial Conservatory in Saratov (Russian: Сара́тов) in 1919. He then attended the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, then known as Petrograd), studying piano with Alexander Dubassoff, and graduated in 1921. From 1922 to 1928

Frédéric Chopin

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Childhood#

Frédéric François Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, 46 kilometres ( 46 km ) west of Warsaw, in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw, a Polish state established by Napoleon. The parish baptismal record, which is dated 23 April 1810, gives his birthday as 22 February 1810, and cites his given names in the Latin form (in Polish, he was ). The composer and his family used the birthdate 1 March, which is now generally accepted as the correct date. His father, Nicolas Chopin, was a Frenchman from Lorraine who emigrated to Poland in 1787 at the age of sixteen. He married Justyna Krzyżanowska, a poor relative of the Skarbeks, one of the families for whom he worked. Chopin was baptised in the same Catholic church where his parents had married, in Brochów. His eighteen-year-old godfather, for whom he was named, was Fryderyk Skarbek, a pupil of Nicolas Chopin. Chopin was the second child of Nicolas and Justyna and their only son; he had an elder sister, Ludwika, and two younger sisters, Izabela and Emilia, whose death at the age of 14 was probably from tuberculosis. Nicolas Chopin was devoted to his adopted homeland, and insisted on the use of the Polish language in the household. In October 1810, six months after Chopin’s birth, the family moved to Warsaw, where his father acquired a post teaching French at the Warsaw Lyceum, then housed in the Saxon Palace. Chopin lived with his family on the Palace grounds. His father played the flute and violin; his mother played the piano and gave lessons to boys in the boarding house that the Chopins kept. Chopin was of slight build, and even in early childhood was prone to illnesses. Chopin may have had some piano instruction from his mother, but his first professional music tutor, from 1816 to 1821, was the Czech-born pianist Wojciech Żywny. His elder sister Ludwika also took lessons from Żywny, and occasionally played duets with her brother. It quickly became apparent that he was a child prodigy. By the age of seven he had begun giving public concerts, and in 1817, he composed two polonaises, in G minor and B major. His next work, a polonaise in A major of 1821, dedicated to Żywny, is his earliest surviving musical manuscript. In 1817, the Saxon Palace was requisitioned by Warsaw’s Russian governor for military use, and the Warsaw Lyceum was reestablished in the Kazimierz Palace (today the rectorate of Warsaw University). Chopin and his family moved to a building, which still survives, adjacent to the Kazimierz Palace. During this period, he was sometimes invited to the Belweder Palace as playmate to the son of the ruler of Russian Poland, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia; he played the piano for Konstantin Pavlovich and composed a march for him. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, in his dramatic eclogue, "" (“Our Discourses”, 1818), attested to “little Chopin’s” popularity.

Gabriela Moyseowicz

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Gabriela Maria Moyseowicz (born 4 May 1944 in Lwów) is a Polish composer and pianist. Biography Gabriela Moyseowicz played piano skillfully at the age of three. She was recognized as a musical prodigy at music schools in Gdańsk, Bytom and Gliwice. At the age of 13, Gabriela composed a 25-minute concerto for two pianos. She performed it before a group of respected professors-musicians in Kraków and was instantly admitted to the prestigious Academy of Music in Kraków. The concerto was both classical & romantic in style. The work and a number of superb fugues she composed as school-exercises were the first indicators of the scope of the composer’s talent. A renowned musical critic in Kraków 1 highly praised the first atonal composition of Gabriela - “The Piano Sonata No. 1” (1960). Also, the atonal chamber work “Media Vita” (1961) was met with a warm reaction by both the public and musical critics. From 1962 Moyseowicz attended composition classes at the Academy of Music in Kraków and the State Conservatory in Katowice, and graduated from the latter in 1967. She was awarded the degree of Master of Arts after submitting her second piano concerto. A stormy discussion resulted, among the

George Andreani

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George Andreani, pseudonym Josef Dvořáček (born as Josef Kumok; 28 February 1901 in Warsaw, Poland – 2 April 1979 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Polish composer, film score composer, pianist, conductor, and actor. He was noted for his scores of some 75 Argentine films during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema from 1937 to 1959. Aside from his prolific work as a score composer, he was also conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Schenley in the 1940s. Career He participated as an actor in the film Lelíček al Servicio de Sherlock Holmes, whose role was that of a composer (in addition to scoring the music for that film). He arrived in Buenos Aires in 1937 (where he adopted the name George Andreani). He collaborated with both Argentine and Chilean films. He worked with directors such as Carlos Hugo Christensen, Arturo García Buhr, Enrique Susini, among others. Most of the films he scored belonged to the Lumiton label. In Chile he was hired by Chile Films in 1946 and composed music for films of that studio such as La dama de la muerte and El diamante del Maharaja, as well as for other independent filmmakers. He conducted the large symphonic orchestra that he conducted at Radio Splendid a

Grażyna Auguścik

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Grażyna Auguścik (born 17 August 1955) is a Polish jazz vocalist, composer, and arranger. She frequently uses Polish folk music, In 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 she was named Best Jazz Vocalist by the European magazine Jazz Forum. Auguścik has toured all over the world. Some of her albums have been highly acclaimed and popular with jazz audiences and have consistently been placed in Top 10 Charts (e.g. by the College Music Journal). Grażyna has recorded 15 albums, including two with Urszula Dudziak, her fellow top-ranking Polish female jazz vocalist. Discography * Sunrise Sunset (Polskie Nagrania Muza, 1988) * Don’t Let Me Go (GMA, 1996) * Koledy with Urszula Dudziak (Voice Magic, 1996) * Pastels with Bogdan Hołownia (GMA, 1997) * Fragile (GMA, 2000) * To I Hola (Selles, 2000) * River (GMA, 2001) * Past Forward (GMA, 2003) * Lulajze: The Lullaby for Jesus (GMA, 2005) * The Light (GMA, 2005) * Live Sounds Live (GMA, 2007) * Andanca with Paulinho Garcia (GMA, 2008) * The Beatles Nova with Paulinho Garcia (Agencja Artystyczna MTJ, 2011) * Man Behind the Sun (EMI, 2012) * Szeptem (Agencja Artystyczna MTJ, 2016) See also * List of jazz arrangers References External links *

Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil

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Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil (born 16 July 1947) is a Polish composer and music educator. Life Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil was born in Wrocław, Poland. She studied composition at the State School of Music in Wrocław with Stefan Bolesław Poradowski and Tadeusz Natanson, and in France under Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen. She took courses at the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique in Paris and studied Iannis Xenakis’s music in Aix-en-Provence. After completing her studies, Pstrokońska-Nawratil took a position in 1971 at the State School of Music in Wrocław, becoming a professor in 1993 and later Chair of Composition and Music Theory. Beginning in 1998, she also taught at the Poznan Academy of Music. Her works have been performed internationally. Honors and awards *The Tadeusz Baird Young Competition of the Polish Composers’ Union in 1968 and 1973 *Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition in 1972 *International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim in 1975 *3rd place at the UNESCO International Composers’ Tribune in Paris in 1987 *Wrocław City Award *Chairman of the Council of Ministers Award for work for children and teenagers in 1997 *Brother Albert Award in

Grzegorz Ciechowski

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Grzegorz Zbigniew Ciechowski (29 August 1957 – 22 December 2001) was a Polish rock musician and film music composer. Ciechowski was born in Tczew. He was the founder and frontman of the band Republika, which was one of Poland’s most popular rock groups. In the mid-1980s, Ciechowski took a break from the group and formed a new band called Obywatel GC (Citizen GC), again with considerable commercial success. At least a seven-song eponymous vinyl record, Obywatel G.C. exists, released by Tonpress KAW, copyright 1986. In 1991, Republika was revived, and Ciechowski was involved with a number of other ensembles. In 1996, as Grzegorz z Ciechowa, he recorded the album ojDADAna. His ashes were buried at Powązki Military Cemetery on 4 January 2002. References External links * Grzegorz Ciechowski at culture.pl

Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki

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Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665 to 1667 – 30 April 1734) was a Polish Baroque composer. Considered one of the greatest composers of Polish Baroque music, during his lifetime he was called the “Polish Handel”. Life Born in near Bytom in Silesia, then Habsburg-ruled Kingdom of Bohemia around 1665, little is known of his early life. Similarly little is known about his musical education; however, it is known that he attended the University of Prague, where he graduated from the department of Liberal Arts and Philosophy, and then attended the University of Vienna, where he gained a bachelor’s degree in theology. He arrived in Kraków in 1689 or 1690, where he then attended the Catholic Seminary. He was ordained on 22 March 1692. Following his ordination, he was appointed to the academy for missionary priests in Chełmno in Pomerania, where he lectured in rhetoric and poetry, as well as conducting the local orchestra. After two years, he returned to Kraków, where he was appointed curate of the cathedral, and performed in the cathedral orchestra. He was appointed conductor on 10 January 1698, and remained in this position until his death on 30 April 1734. The earliest recorded informat

Grzegorz Turnau

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Grzegorz Jerzy Turnau (born 31 July 1967) is a Polish composer, pianist, poet and singer. He has released eleven albums to date, including one (Cafe Sułtan) made up of his own versions of songs by Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski, and most have enjoyed considerable chart success. His characteristic style consists of strong, clear lyrics and music composed in special keys and harmonies, using instruments such as the piano (played by himself), saxophone, violin and various horns. Influenced by such artists as Marek Grechuta and Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, his music style falls within the broad genre of sung poetry. Biography He was born on 31 July 1967 in Kraków, Poland. At age seventeen he won First Prize (Grand Prix) at The Student Song Festival in Kraków in 1984. He went on to join the Piwnica pod Baranami Cabaret, composing such hits as “Znów wędrujemy”, and released his first album, Naprawdę nie dzieje się nic (“Really, nothing is happening”) in 1991. He did participate in the Aleksander Glondys’s “Ellington po krakowsku” (“Ellington, Kraków-Style”), a concert based upon idea of notable composers of Piwnica pod Baranami playing their interpretations of Duke’s music. Other partici

Hanna Kulenty

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Hanna Kulenty (born March 18, 1961, in Białystok) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. Since 1992, she has worked and lived both in Warsaw (Poland) and in Arnhem (Netherlands). Musical education After studying piano at the Karol Szymanowski School of Music in Warsaw from 1976 to 1980, Kulenty studied composition with Włodzimierz Kotoński at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. From 1986 to 1988 she studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 1984 and 1988 she participated in Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music. In 1983 and 1990 she was participant in the International Courses for Young Composers in Kazimierz, organised by the Polish section of the ISCM — where she attended lectures with Iannis Xenakis, Witold Lutosławski, Thomas Kessler and François-Bernard Mâche. Main activities From 1989 Kulenty worked as a free-lance composer, and received numerous commissions and scholarships. She has composed 2 operas and 12 works for large orchestra. She has written numerous works for solo instruments and chamber groups. Since 2007 she is also involved in writing music for television plays and for film. In 1990

Henryk Gold

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Henryk Gold (19029 January 1977 in New York City, United States) was a Polish-American composer, arranger, and orchestra director. Early Life and Family Henryk Gold was born in Warsaw into a highly musical family. His mother, Helena (née Melodyst), came from the famous Warsaw klezmer family Melodysta, and his father, Michał Gold, was the principal flutist of the Warsaw Opera Orchestra. His father died suddenly on stage during a concert in 1904, when Henryk was only two years old. Gold’s older brother, Artur Gold (1903–1943), also became a renowned composer and orchestra leader, but was murdered in Treblinka during the Holocaust. Henryk had two other brothers, Abram and Jaker, both musicians; Abram was killed in 1942, while Jaker’s fate remains unknown. His grandfather, Wolf Zeew Gold, was also a klezmer musician. Henryk Gold married Bronisława Gold (née 1911) in 1946, while they had met in 1942. Tragically, much of his family, including his first wife, daughter, and son, were killed during the Holocaust. His surviving relatives included a sister in Buenos Aires and two nephews, both musicians, whom Gold welcomed as his own family. Bronisława Gold remained in New York until her deat

Henryk Górecki

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Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( ; ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during the post-Stalin cultural thaw. His Anton Webern-influenced serialist works of the 1950s and 1960s were characterized by adherence to dissonant modernism and influenced by Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Kazimierz Serocki. He continued in this direction throughout the 1960s, but by the mid-1970s had changed to a less complex sacred minimalist sound, exemplified by the transitional Symphony No. 2 “Copernician” and the Symphony No. 3 “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”. This later style developed through several other distinct phases, from such works as his 1979 Beatus Vir, to the 1981 choral hymn Miserere, the 1993 Kleines Requiem für eine Polka and his requiem Good Night. Górecki was largely unknown outside Poland until the late 1980s. In 1992, 15 years after it was composed, a recording of his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductor David Zinman became

Ignace Strasfogel

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Ignace Strasfogel (17 July 1909 – 6 February 1994) was a Polish pianist, composer and conductor. Biography Born in Warsaw, Strasfogel studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin where he was a pupil of modernist composer Franz Schreker. He began his career as a pianist and vocal coach; notably serving as an accompanist for prestigious artists such as Joseph Szigeti, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Lauritz Melchior among other soloists. In 1926, at the age of 17, his two piano sonatas won the Mendelssohn Prize. In 1934, Strasfogel was forced to emigrate from Nazi Germany to the United States. In America, he worked as a pianist and won fame as conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. During the years of 1940 to 1941, and 1962, he conducted the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series. In 1983, Strasfogel ended a 35-year break from composing, producing works for piano, orchestra, chamber music and songs. Strasfogel died in New York City. His son (born 1940) is an opera director and librettist. Selected works Piano * 1923/1924 Capriccio mit alten Tänzen nach acht Kupferstichen von Jakob Callot * Oktober 1924 Scherzo

Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński

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Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (15 February 1807 – 9 October 1867) was a Polish pianist and composer. He was the son of Ignacy Dobrzyński, the brother of Edward Dobrzyński, and the father of Bronisław Dobrzyński. Life Dobrzyński was born on former Polish territory in Romanów, in Volhynia, Russian Empire, now Romaniv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine (Ukr. Романів), known from 1933 to 2003 as Dzerzhynsk (Rus. Дзержинськ, Pol. Dzierżyńsk). He attended a Jesuit school in Romanów, then continued his education at Vinnitsa, where he graduated from the Gimnazjum Podolskie (Podole Gymnasium). He first studied music with his father Ignacy, a violinist, composer and music director. Beginning in 1825 he studied in Warsaw with Józef Elsner, at first privately, then in 1826–28 at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he was a classmate of Frédéric Chopin. In 1835, he won second prize in a composition competition for his Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 15. This symphony was later called “Symphony in the Characteristic Spirit of Polish Music” and movements were conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. In 1845 Dobrzyński toured Germany as a soloist and also conducted operas and concerts. In 1857 he founded “Ignacy Feliks Dobrzy

Ignacy Jan Paderewski

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Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; 6 November 1860 or 1859 – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer, philanthropist, and statesman. As a politician and diplomat, Paderewski was vital to securing international recognition of the newly formed Second Polish Republic in 1919. A musical virtuoso, he rose to prominence as a musician and composer in the late 1880s and toured widely in Europe and the United States. He wrote orchestral, instrumental, and vocal works and an opera, Manru (premiered 1901), which remains the only opera by a Polish composer performed by the Metropolitan Opera. Paderewski’s renown allowed access to influential political and cultural circles in the West. During World War I, he largely suspended concert touring to focus on political advocacy and fundraising, working with organizations such as the Polish National Committee in Paris and relief initiatives in Britain and the United States. In the United States, he met President Woodrow Wilson and contributed to efforts that helped make an independent Poland part of the postwar settlement. In newly independent Poland, Józef Piłsudski appointed Paderewski prime minister and minister of foreign affairs (January–December 191

Ivan Domaratsky

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Ivan Domaratsky (; ) was a Ukrainian composer of Baroque music, who wrote and liturgies. Long forgotten by music historians, he was rediscovered by the Ukrainian musicologist Nina Herasymova-Persydska, who attributed his compositions to the 1730s and 1740s. Domaratsky’s works were largely unknown until the 21st century, when the Kyiv Chamber Choir began to perform them, in particular concertos No. 8 “O Thee, Father Roman”, and No. 10 “Your Good Spirit”. Manuscripts of his works are kept at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and the collection of St Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv within sets of partsong (‘partess’) concerts. Among the manuscripts are (in Church Slavonic) his “Concerto to the Apostle Timothy”, “A wonderful catcher like his tongue”, the concerto “Virgin gives birth to the Most Holy”, “The Lord sent deliverance”, a concert for eight voices “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord”, “Hymns for an All-Night Vigil”, and Blessed is the man". References Further reading * * * * *

Jadwiga Sarnecka

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Jadwiga Sarnecka (1877 or 1883 – 29 December 1913) was a Polish composer and pianist whose composition Ballade for piano won second place in a 1910 competition in Lviv (today in Ukraine) commemorating Chopin’s centenary. She also composed works for voice and piano. Biography Sarnecka was born in Slavuta, Volhynia (today in Ukraine). She studied piano with Felicjan Szopski and Władysław Żeleński in Krakow, Poland; Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski and Aleksander Michalowski in Warsaw; and Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. She presented piano recitals throughout Austria, Germany and Poland. Sarnecka’s compositions were not always favorably reviewed. She self-published her initial works. Arts patron Feliks Jasienski (pseudonym “Manggha”) (1861-1929) funded the publication of subsequent works. Eventually, Sarnecka’s compositions received favorable reviews from Polish music critics Adolf Chybinski, Zdzislaw Jachimecki, and Jozef Wladyslaw Reiss, and A. Piwarski & Company began publishing them. After winning second prize at the Lwów (Lviv) competition in 1910, Sarnecka was the only woman asked to present a paper at the first Congress of Polish Musicians later that year. She wrote about Creativity v

Jadwiga Szajna-Lewandowska

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Jadwiga Szajna-Lewandowska (22 February 1912 – 14 March 1994) was a Polish pianist, music educator and composer. Biography Jadwiga Szajna-Lewandowska was born in Brody, Austria-Hungary and studied piano with Marii Sołtysowej at the Conservatory of Music in Lwów, graduating in 1931. She continued her studies in composition with Tadeusz Szeligowski, Piotr Perkowski and Stefan Boleslaw Poradowski at the National Academy of Music in Wrocław, graduating in 1956. After completing her studies, she worked as a music educator, teaching accompaniment, chamber ensemble, music theory and composition. She died in Wrocław. Honors and awards *Opolska Wiosna Competition, second prize for the cantata Regiment (1960) *Opolska Wiosna Competition, second prize for the song cycle I envy the nut for soprano and chamber orchestra (1962) *Competition for composers in Mannheim, award for children’s ballet Ein Spaziergang in der Stadt (1971) *National Composition Competition, second prize for We Play in the Green (1970) *Prize of the city of Wrocław (1964) *Prime Minister’s Award (1974 and 1983) Works Jadwiga Szajna-Lewandowska composed mostly works for youth, including ballets and stage works. She also com

Jagoda Szmytka

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Jagoda Marta Szmytka (born 15 January 1982, Legnica) is a Polish composer. She has attracted attention for her style of music, which uses elements not only of sound, but also of the sense of space and visual arts, and also for her opera, Dla głosów i rąk (For Voices and Hands). She is a well-known composer in Europe and has been recognized abroad, winning numerous juried scholarships, including the Staubach Honoraria for Composition. Biography Jagoda Szmytka studied history of art and philosophy at the University of Wrocław, Poland (2000-2005) as well as composition and music theory with Krystian Kiełb and Cezary Duchnowski at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. This was followed by postgraduate studies in composition with Pierluigi Billone and Beat Furrer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (2007-2008), with Beat Furrer at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (2008-2010), and with Wolfgang Rihm at the Karlsruhe University of Music (2010-2012). Szmytka has received numerous scholarships and grants from various foundations including Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (ÖAD) (2008), an artist grant funde

Jakub Kagan

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Jakub Kagan (7 February 1896 – 1942) was a popular Polish-Jewish composer, pianist, jazz musician and arranger. In the early 1920s, he formed the Kagan’s Jazz Band in Warsaw, performing in operettas, cabarets, and hotels. Since 1922 Kagan was a feature artist at the Kabaret Mirage and at the Teatr Nowości. In 1926 he signed a contract with the luxury Hotel Bristol in Warsaw. His band performed world-renowned standards as well as his own compositions widely popular across the country. He died in Warsaw during the Holocaust in occupied Poland. After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany he was deported to the Warsaw Ghetto where he played piano at the Splendid Café and the Melody Palace Theatre to survive. He was killed in 1942 possibly during the murderous Grossaktion Warsaw. His other brother, Feliks, who had changed his name to Kochański, also perished during the war. Only the youngest of the Kagan brothers, Alexander (born in 1906), survived the Holocaust as a soldier of the Polish Army in France (1939–40), interned in Switzerland. Popular songs References * Jakub Kagan, Biblioteka Piosenki, Nota biograficzna Bibliography * Stanisław Łoza (ed.), “Czy wiesz kto to jest?”, Wydawni

Jan A. P. Kaczmarek

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Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek (; 29 April 1953 – 21 May 2024) was a Polish composer. He wrote scores for more than 70 feature films and documentaries, including Finding Neverland (2004), for which he won an Oscar and a National Board of Review Award. Other notable scores were for Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, Unfaithful, Evening, The Visitor, and Washington Square. Early life and education Jan A.P. Kaczmarek was born in 1953 in Konin, Poland. Studying music from an early age, he graduated with a law degree, specializing in legal theory and philosophy of law, from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (1977). Career In the late 1970s, Kaczmarek started working with Jerzy Grotowski and his innovative Theater Laboratory. He created the Orchestra of the Eighth Day in 1977. He recorded his first album, Music for the End (1982), for the United States (US) company Flying Fish Records. In addition to his work in films, Kaczmarek was commissioned to write two symphonic and choral pieces for two important national occasions in Poland: Cantata for Freedom (2005) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement, and Oratorio 1956 (2006) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a bloody uprising

Jan Ekier

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Jan Stanisław Ekier (29 August 1913 – 15 August 2014) was a Polish pianist and composer known for his authoritative edition of Chopin’s music for the Chopin National Edition. Biography Ekier was born in Kraków, Poland. As a youth, he studied piano with Olga Stolfowa, and later composition with Bernardino Rizzi at the Władysław Żeleński School of Music. He continued formal music studies at the Warsaw Conservatory, where his teachers included Zbigniew Drzewiecki (piano) and Kazimierz Sikorski (composition). He was awarded the III International Chopin Piano Competition’s 8th prize in 1937. He was later an organ student with Bronisław Rutkowski. In 1959, he started the project of a new critical edition of Chopin’s works that later became the Chopin National Edition. From 1967 to 2010, the entirety of Chopin’s known works were published in 37 volumes, accompanied by source and performance commentaries. In 2004, he received a special award from the Minister of Culture of Poland, “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the preservation and popularization of the legacy of Fryderyk Chopin, in particular for the monumental edition of the National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk C

Jan Krenz

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Jan Krenz (14 July 1926 – 15 September 2020) was a Polish composer and orchestra conductor. Biography During World War II, Krenz studied piano with Zbigniew Drzewiecki and composition with Kazimierz Sikorski. From 1945 to 1947, he studied at the Academy of Music in Łódź, conducting with Kazimierz Wiłkomirski and composing with Sikorski. In 1949, Krenz began serving under Grzegorz Fitelberg as deputy conductor at the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. After Fitelberg’s death, Krenz became director of the orchestra from 1953 to 1968. In 1968, he became artistic director of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, and was General Director of Music in Bonn from 1979 to 1982. At the same time, he directed the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen. He was a guest conductor at the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in Hilversum. He also often performed with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Other orchestras he led include the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. On 26 March 1958, Krenz was the first person to conduct Musique funèbre by Witold Lutosławski. In a

Jan Pogány

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Jan Pogány born 23 June 1960) is a Polish classical composer, conductor and cellist. His music adopts the romantic style and is a symbiosis of the modern form of romantic harmony and lyrical melodic line. Biography Pogány was 23 June 1960 in Kołobrzeg. He is a graduate of cello and conducting studies in Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, Germany). He studied at the Music Academy in Wrocław, Poland. He works with numerous orchestras such as the ones Germany, Japan, South Korea, Greece, Poland as well as opera companies. He founded the Polish Chamber Orchestra Camerata-Wrocław. He was Director General of the International Brahms Festival Wrocław. Recognition *2008 – the II prize at the International Composers Competitions in Torrevie (Spain), *2009 – the III prize at the International Composers Competitions in Luxembourg. Works * 2002 – Film music for the German TV crime series Mit Herz und Handschellen * 2005 – Cantata of Kołobrzeg for two sopranos, tenor, baritone, choir and orchestra, the composition was written on the jubilee 750th anniversary of Kolobrzeg * 2006 – Fantasia in D minor for cello and orchestra * 2007 – Cantata “La Voce del Destino” for tenor, violin and orches

Jan Stefani

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Jan Stefani (c. 1746-1829) was a Polish composer and violinist. Life Stefani was born in Prague, and probably studied music there before moving to Italy. Around 1765, he was employed by Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky as a military bandmaster. Also, he would become a violinist at the court of Joseph II. In Vienna, Prince Andrzej Poniatowski offered him a position in the Polish Royal Court. Stefani accepted, and in 1779 went to Warsaw with a group of musicians. He joined King Stanisław II August’s nine-person band, which developed into a court orchestra. In 1795, the Third Partition of Poland caused this orchestra to disband. For the next four years, Stefani wrote music for St. John’s Archcathedral. After Wojciech Bogusławski became director of the National Theatre in 1799, Stefani played with the first violins. He kept this position until 1818. Stefani died on 23rd February 1829. He is buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. Works Stefani is renowned for one work, the singspiel Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale (The Supposed Miracle, or Cracovians and Highlanders), composed in 1794 with a libretto by Bogusławski. The opera is set in Kraków, where the two lovers Stach and Basia,

Janusz Frychel

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Janusz Frychel (born January 7, 1967) is a Polish musician, bassist, composer, and lyricist. His music combines styles such as blues, rock, pop, and folk. He is one of the founders of the band Gang Olsena. Since 1988, he has been performing on major stages and festivals in Poland and abroad. Musical biography In 1986, he formed his first band, Lean Back, together with Ireneusz Kucharczyk, Zbigniew Szczerbiński, and Tomasz Kupka. The group performed, among others, at Spodek in Katowice as the winner of the Rawa Blues Festival eliminations and at the Silesian Jazz Festival. In 1988, Janusz Frychel co-founded the band Gang Olsena, He has performed at festivals such as National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, FAMA in Świnoujście, Rawa Blues at Spodek in Katowice, Country Picnic in Mrągowo, the Jarocin Festival, and the Woodstock Festival Poland organized by Jurek Owsiak. Janusz Frychel has recorded six albums with Gang Olsena. The song Białe Myszy, Dzikie Koty from the album GO! was featured in the Anthology of Polish Blues released in 2008 under the patronage of Polish Radio Three and in the second edition of the Polish Top All-Time Hits Anthology published by Polish Radio in 2011.

Janusz Muniak

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Janusz Józef Muniak (3 June 1941 – 31 January 2016) was a Polish jazz musician, saxophonist, flutist, arranger, and composer. He was one of the pioneers of free jazz in Europe, although later in life tended towards the mainstream style. He debuted in Lublin in 1960. From the 60s to the 90s, he worked with, among others, Ronnie Burrage, George Cables, James Cammack, Don Cherry, Ted Curson, Art Farmer, Eddie Gladden, Dexter Gordon, Eddie Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Jones, Rusty Jones, Nigel Kennedy, Branislav Lala Kovačev, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis, Lyle Mays, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Takeo Moriyama, Joe Newman, Sal Nistico, Jasper van ’t Hof, Aladár Pege, Rufus Reid, Akira Sakata, Archie Shepp, Charlie Ventura, Yōsuke Yamashita and Polish musicians such as Vladyslav Sendecki, Tomasz Stańko, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Zbigniew Seifert, Adam Makowicz, Wojciech Karolak, Krzysztof Komeda, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Andrzej Trzaskowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Jarek Śmietana, Jan Jarczyk, Włodek Pawlik, Leszek Możdżer and Michał Urbaniak. He was one of the first jazz musiciansd who performed who cooperated with rock musicians like Dżamble and Czesław Niemen. After 1976, he was the leader of

Jarosław Kukulski

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Jarosław Kazimierz Kukulski (25 May 1944 – 13 September 2010) was a Polish composer. He was the husband of late singer Anna Jantar and the father of singer Natalia Kukulska. Early life Kukulski was born on May 25, 1944, in Września to Maria and Kazimierz Kukulski. In 1967, Kukulski graduated from Poznań Secondary Music School and the Instrumental Department of the State Higher School of Music in Poznań, where he learned to play the oboe. At the same time he completed an internship in Poznań Opera and the philharmonic in Zielona Góra. He collaborated with a cabaret ”Nurt” in Poznań. Career For a time, he played jazz in dixieland bands. In 1968, at the II Military Song Festival in Kołobrzeg, he received an award from the Ministry of National Defense for the song Zaślubinowy pierścień (‘The Wedding Ring’). In 1968, he started a big-beat band named Waganci. In 1969, his future wife Anna Jantar joined the band as a soloist. As a result of frequent personnel changes, Kukulski disbanded the group in 1972 in order to focus on his wife’s solo career. In the 1970s, he was responsible for most of Anna Jantar’s greatest successes and wrote for her notable hits such as, Najtrudniejszy pierwszy

Jerzy Fitelberg

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jerzy Fitelberg (May 20, 1903 – April 25, 1951) was a Polish-American composer. Biography Son of Grzegorz Fitelberg, Jerzy was born in Warsaw. He first studied music with his father. At a young age, his father had him play percussion in the orchestra of the National Theatre, Warsaw to gain experience. He subsequently studied in Moscow. From 1922–1926 he studied composition with Walter Gmeindl and Franz Schreker at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1923 the University helped him get a deferment for the Polish military draft . In 1927 he re-orchestrated Arthur Sullivan’s music for „The Mikado” for Erik Charell’s re-staging as an operetta-revue in Berlin’s Grosses Schauspielhaus. (Review in the Times (London) September 2, 1927) In 1928, his String Quartet no. 2 won first prize in a competition organized by the Association of Young Polish Musicians in Paris. His works were heard at subsequent ISCM concerts of 1931, 1937, 1946 and 1951. Escaping the Nazis, he first traveled to Paris in 1933. There his music was published by Editions Max Eschig. Among the first works he composed in his new city were those reminiscent of Poland. His application for US Citizenship was filed on May 26,

Jerzy Milian

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Jerzy Stanisław Milian (April 10, 1935 – March 7, 2018) was a Polish jazz musician, painter, composer and vibraphonist. At sixteen he graduated from the Secondary School of Music in Poznań. His teachers were Wolfram Heicking and Bogusław Schaeffer. Career In the years 1953–1955, Milian formed a quintet with Stanisław Chwiłkowski, Ryszard Czaplicki, Jerzy Piątek and Stanisław Lisek. In the years 1956–1958, he played vibraphone in a sextet with Krzysztof Komeda, and at the turn of 1959 and 1960 in the quintet of Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski. He was the director and artistic director of the Orchestra of Polish Radio and Television Services Entertainment in Katowice and lecturer at the Poznań Academy of Music. He participated in many jazz festivals, including the annual Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw. He was a jury member at the XII Song Festival of Soviet in Zielona Góra in 1976. Personal life In the years 1950–1957, he was a member of the ZMP. From 1961, he belonged to the Polish United Workers’ Party. Awarded with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Polish, Gold Cross of Merit and badge for distinguished cultural activists. He died on March 7, 2018, at the age of 82. In 2004, he

Johann Stobäus

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Johann Stobäus (6 July 158011 September 1646) was a composer and lutenist. Life Stobäus was born at Graudenz (now Grudziądz, Poland) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1599 to 1608 he was a pupil of Johannes Eccard, the Kapellmeister of Königsberg (in the Duchy of Prussia, a vassal duchy of Poland). In 1601 he joined the princely Kapelle as a bass singer, and in 1602 he became Kantor at Königsberg Cathedral. In 1626 he succeeded Eccard as Kapellmeister, remaining in the post until his death. He died at Königsberg. Stobäus, known as Stobaeus Grudentinus Borussus for his birthplace, wrote music for liturgical use, as well as songs and compositions for lute. Much of his manuscript music was lost in World War II; what remains is largely held at the Berlin State Library. Stobäus’s Commonplace Book, containing songs, instrumental music and drawings of instruments, is preserved at the British Library (Sloane MS 1021). Works * Cantiones Sacrae 5–10. v. item Magnificat, Frankfurt/Oder 1624 * Geistliche Lieder auf gewöhnliche Preußische Kirchenmelodien, Danzig 1634 * Erster und Ander Theil der Preußischen Fest-Lieder, 5-8 voices (incomplete), Elbing 1642 and Königsberg 1644, includi

Joseph Beer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Joseph Beer (; 7 May 1908 – 23 November 1987) was a composer who worked mainly in the genres of operettas, singspiele, and operas. Beer started composing music as a young man in Vienna in the 1930s. His operettas and premiered at the Zürich Opera House in 1934 and 1937, respectively. Beer, ethnically Jewish, fled Austria in 1938 for France. His family stayed in Poland and subsequently perished in the Nazi extermination camps. Beer continued composing new works until the end of his life, and left a large number of composition for the stage. Early life Beer was born in 1908 in Chodorow, Galicia, today Khodoriv near Lviv, the second child of Uri Isidore Beer, a wealthy banker, and Amelie Esther Malka Beer nee Silver; he had an older brother and a younger sister. Beer started composing in his early teens and attended the Lviv Conservatory at the time called Lwów Conservatory, during his high school years. To please his father, he first completed a year of law studies at Lviv University, succeeding in the final exam on the question of Lex Salica, and was then applied with his father’s backing at the Staatsakademie und Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He was admitte

Josima Feldschuh

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Josima Feldschuh (also spelled Feldszuh or Feldschu; 26 June 1929 – 21 April 1943) was a Polish pianist and composer of Jewish origin. Feldshuh was considered a child prodigy. Life Josima Feldschuh was born in Warsaw in 1929 to Ruben Feldschuh and Perła (Pnina) née Richter. Her father was an intellectual and a Zionist, while her mother, who started teaching Josima to play the piano when the girl was 5 years old, was a pianist and a musicologist. Her father’s cousin Rokhl Auerbakh later described Josima as having perfect pitch and great musical memory which helped her play the works of Chopin, Mendelssohn or Bach from memory and offer her own interpretations. and Austrian Cultural Forum in London, in Plzeň, Leeds, York and at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA, among others. Josima’s music has been also showcased at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, most notably during a concert of the winner of Paszport Polityki award, pianist Emilia Sitarz. The part of Josima was played by Lauren Zhang, who was accompanied by the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra. In 2021, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic pla

Józef Elsner

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Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (sometimes Józef Ksawery Elsner; baptismal name, Joseph Anton Franz Elsner; 1 June 176918 April 1854) was a Polish composer, music teacher, and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw. He was one of the first composers in Poland to weave elements of folk music into his works. Elsner composed many symphonic, chamber, solo, and vocal-instrumental works, and works for the stage, including over 100 religious works (masses, offertories, oratorios, cantatas), eight symphonies, three concertos, three ballets, and thirty-eight operas. in Austrian-ruled Lemberg (Lviv/Lwów). There, in 1796, he married Klara Abt, who died a year later. In 1799, with Wojciech Bogusławski, he went to New East Prussia (Prussian-ruled Poland) and became the principal conductor, first at the German Theatre, then at the Polish National Theatre in Warsaw. Masses * Missa brevis in F major, Op. 85 on 3-voice male choir and organ (1844) * Festiva Missa in C major, Op. 52 for 4-voice choir, orchestra and organ (c. 1832) * Missa in B, Op. 18 on 3-voice male choir (1823) * Mass in A minor, Op. 24 for 4-voice choir (c. 1823) * Mass in A minor, Op. 81 for 4-voice choir and orchestra (1843)

Józef Koffler

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Józef Koffler (28 November 18961944) was a Polish composer, music teacher, musicologist and musical columnist. He was the first Polish composer living before the Second World War to apply the twelve-tone composition technique (dodecaphony). Biography Koffler was born on 28 November 1896 in Stryj, Austria-Hungary. He studied from 1914 to 1916 in Lwów and from 1918 to 1924 he studied music at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna. His teachers were Paul Graener and Felix Weingartner. From 1928 till 1941 Koffler was professionally active as music teacher in Lwów, teaching at the Lwów Conservatory. Polish exile composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati studied in 1920–1923 composition together with Koffler in Lwów. Koffler was a composer of 20th-century avant-garde Polish music and the first Polish twelve-tone technique composer. He must have come into contact with Edward Clark, the British conductor, BBC music producer and former student of Arnold Schoenberg, as his “Variations on a Waltz by Johann Strauss”, Op. 23 (1935) were dedicated “À mon ami Edward Clark”. When German troops entered the town Koffler was captured with his wife and son and forcibly relocated to the ghetto

Józef Kozłowski

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Józef Kozłowski (, also or ; 1757/1759 – 11 March 1831) was a Russian composer of Polish origin. Biography For the most part of his life Józef Kozłowski was attached to the Russian Imperial Court, for which he wrote most of his music. In Russia he became popular especially for his patriotic polonaises. Sources vary as to Kozłowski’s time and place of birth. The Polish academia traditionally considers him as a native of Warsaw, born on 10 September 1759. According to the Encyclopedia of Literature and Art of Belarus (1985), he was born in 1757 in Kozlovichi manor near Propoysk (modern Slawharad, Belarus). Author of encyclopedia entry V. D. Bobrovsky based his claim on the data from a metric book he found in Sokolovo, Slawharad District. An obituary in Northern Bee, presumably written by Thaddeus Bulgarin, described Kozłowski as a “descendant of Belarusian nobility.” Kozłowski’s uncle, Vasily Fyodorovich Trutovsky (a famous hussler in his time), noticing his nephew’s musical abilities, took him to study in St. John’s Church in Warsaw, where the young musician received a musical education and underwent practice as a chanter, violinist and organist. For many years Kozlowski was associa

Józef Świder

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Józef Świder (born 19 August 1930 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died 22 May 2014 in Katowice ) was a Polish composer and music teacher. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice (formerly PWSM – today Akademia Muzyczna), then continued his studies with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Since 1954, he taught composition and music theory at the Akademia Muzyczna in Katowice. Among his pupils were the Polish composers Aleksander Lasoń, Julian Gembalski, Andrzej Dziadek and Wiesław Cieńciała. Professor at the University of Silesia (Uniwersytet Śląski) where, from 1985 until 1999, he managed the Institute for Music Education. Since 1984 professor of the postgraduate course for choir directors at the Akademia Muzyczna in Bydgoszcz. Member of the jury of numerous Polish and international choir competitions. Józef Świder was the recipient of many awards, among them the Prize of Poland’s Prime Minister for his works for children. He was a member of the Union of Polish Composers (ZKP). Compositions * more than 200 choral songs * 3 operas: Magnus (1970), Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss – 1974), Bal Baśni (The Fairy Tales Bal – 1977) * Wokaliza (Vocalise) for so

Józef Wieniawski

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Józef Wieniawski (23 May 1837 – 11 November 1912) was a Polish pianist, composer, conductor and teacher. He was born in Lublin, the younger brother of the famous violinist Henryk Wieniawski. After Franz Liszt, he was the first pianist to publicly perform all the études by Chopin. He appeared with Liszt in recitals in Paris, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Brussels, Leipzig and Amsterdam. Near the end of his life, a journalist asked him how long he intended to serve music. He replied: “As long as I remain young!” Life Józef Wieniawski studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Pierre Zimmermann and Antoine François Marmontel in 1847, leaving in 1850. In 1855 he received a scholarship from the Tsar of Russia to study with Franz Liszt in Weimar and from 1856 until 1858 in Berlin with Adolf Bernhard Marx, with whom he studied music theory. He left 11 mechanical recordings of his piano pieces which to date have not come to light. Compositions *Allegro de Sonate for Violin and Piano, Op. 2 *Valse de Concert No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 3 “À mon maître et ami Mr A. Marmontel, Professseur au Conservatoire de Paris” *Tarantella, Op. 4 “À Monsieur F. Liszt” *Grand Duo Polonais for Violin and Pi

Juliusz Zarębski

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Juliusz Zarębski (3 March 185415 September 1885) was a Polish composer and pianist active in the Russian Empire. Some of his manuscripts have been found in the National Library of Poland (BN). Life Juliusz Zarębski was born on March 3, 1854, in Zhytomyr, (now Ukraine; then former lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Polish Kingdom). He would die in the same city in 1885. His mother was his first piano teacher. Later, he studied with Lucja Rucinska. In 1870, he completed his education at the gymnasium with honors and moved to Vienna to study composition with Franz Krenn and piano with Josef Dachs. Two years later, he graduated with two gold medals, even though his curriculum indicated a musical training of six years. The following year he moved to St. Petersburg and studied there for three more years, passed his examination and obtained his diploma of “free artist.” A year later, he moved to Rome and stayed there until 1875. In Rome, he studied piano with Franz Liszt, his friend for some time. The Hungarian composer, who would orchestrate his Danses Galiciennes in 1881, greatly helped Zarębski, appearing with him in concerts and using his contacts to publicize the wor

Karl Tausig

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Karl Tausig (sometimes “Carl”; born Karol Tausig; 4 November 184117 July 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger, and composer. He is widely regarded as Franz Liszt’s greatest pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time. Today, he is mostly remembered for transcriptions for piano, in particular of works by J.S. Bach, as well as his piano exercises. Life Tausig was born in Warsaw to Jewish parents and received his first piano lessons from his father, pianist and composer Aloys Tausig (1820–1885), a student of Sigismond Thalberg. His father introduced him to Franz Liszt in Weimar, where he studied under Liszt for four years. He quickly became one of Liszt’s favorite pupils, traveling with him on concert tours and studying counterpoint, composition, and orchestration in addition to his piano lessons. He even took on one of Liszt’s students, Regina Watson, as his own pupil. At the age of 16, he met Richard Wagner, of whom he became a devoted follower and friend. He made piano arrangements of many of Wagner’s operas. He also introduced Wagner to his friend Peter Cornelius, another Wagner devotee. While he also became a great admirer and friend of the conservative Beethoven

Karol Kurpiński

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Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński (March 5, 1785 – September 18, 1857) was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue. He was a representative of late classicism and early romanticism as well as being a member of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning (Polish: Towarzystwo Warszawskie Przyjaciół Nauk, TWPN). He is also known for having composed the music to the 1831 patriotic song La Varsovienne with lyrics by Casimir Delavigne. He was also a mentor and an influence on young Chopin. Early life Karol Kurpiński was born in Włoszakowice, Greater Poland, shortly before his baptism on 6 March 1785, probably 4 or 5 March. He was the sixth child Marcin Kurpiński (né Kurp), organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Włoszakowice, and Franciszka née Wańska, the daughter of the village sołtys and member of a prominent musical family in Poland. Marcin changed his ethnic family name Kurp to the noble-sounding Kurpiński around 1768. In 1800, Karol’s maternal uncles Roch and Jan Wański—a professional cellist and a popular composer, respectively—arranged for him to travel to Moszków (now Huta, Ukraine), where Roch held a position in an orchestra under the supervision of starost Feliks Polanowski. The y

Karol Lipiński

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Karol Józef Lipiński (30 October 1790 – 16 December 1861) was a Polish music composer and virtuoso violinist active during the partitions of Poland. The Karol Lipiński University of Music in Wrocław, Poland is named after him. Life Lipiński was born in Radzyń Podlaski. His father was Feliks Lipiński (1765–1847), and he had a younger brother of the same name Feliks (1815–1865). In 1810 he became the first violin and two years later the conductor of the opera orchestra at Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). In 1817 he went to Italy in the hope of hearing Niccolò Paganini. The two met in Milan, met daily to play, and even performed two concerts together in April 1818, which added immensely to Lipiński’s reputation. Paganini dedicated his Burlesque Variations on “La Carnaval de Venise”, Op. 10 for unaccompanied violin to Lipiński. Later, in 1827, Lipiński returned the honour by dedicating his “Three Caprices for Violin” to Paganini. In 1818 on his return to Poland he stopped in Trieste to receive instruction from Dr Mazzurana, a very elderly former pupil of Giuseppe Tartini; Mazzurana was ninety years old, and could no longer play himself, but gave his criticism of Lipiński’s performance of one

Karol Szymanowski

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Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) Since musical opportunities in Congress Poland were quite limited, he traveled throughout Europe and North Africa. Career In Berlin, Szymanowski founded the Young Polish Composers’ Publishing Company (1905–1912), whose primary aim was to publish new works by his countrymen. During his stay in Vienna (1911–1914), he wrote the opera Hagith and two song cycles, The Love Songs of Hafiz, which represent a transition between his first and second stylistic periods. Being lame in one knee made Szymanowski unsuitable for military service in World War I, and between 1914 and 1917, he composed many works and devoted himself to studying Islamic culture, ancient Greek drama, and philosophy. His works from this period, such as Mity (1914; Myths), Metopy (1915; Métopes), and Maski (1916; Masques), are characterized by great originality and diversity of style. The dynamic extremes in Szymanowski’s music lessened, and the composer started to employ coloristic orchestration and use polytonal and atonal material while preserving the expressive melodic style of his previous works. In 1918, Szymanowski completed the manuscript of a two-volume nov

Kasia Glowicka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kasia Glowicka (born Katarzyna Głowicka, October 12, 1979), also known as Katarina Glowicka, is a Polish composer and lecturer of computer music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Her body of musical work encompasses compositions for opera, theater, ballet and film. As a playwright, she focuses her work on current social issues. As a composer, her work spans a range of styles in experimental, minimalism, Avant-garde, art music and contemporary classical music genres, written for orchestra, small ensembles, or solos and often accompanied by electronic music. In 2004 she married composer Henry Vega and they reside in the Netherlands. They are founding directors of the Artek Foundation and its recording label, ARTEKsounds. Glowicka’s collaborations include works with the Dutch symphony orchestra Het Balletorkest, an affiliate of Het Nationale Ballet, plus Ensemble Recherche and Ties Mellema. Her scores are published by the Dutch institute Donemus. Early life and education Glowicka was born in Oleśnica. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Wrocław in 2001 after studying with the composer Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil. During 2000 she held an internship with Italian composer Iv

Kazimierz Serocki

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Kazimierz Serocki (3 March 1922 – 9 January 1981) was a Polish composer and one of the founders of the Warsaw Autumn contemporary music festival. Life Serocki was born in Toruń. He studied composition with Kazimierz Sikorski and piano with Stanisław Szpinalski at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź and graduated in 1946. He continued in Paris, studying composition with Nadia Boulanger and piano with Lazare Lévy, before graduating in 1947-1948. Between 1946 and 1951 he performed many times as a concert pianist in Poland and abroad, but for the rest of his career, he was focused exclusively on composition. Serocki’s output is concentrated in two main spheres: orchestral music and vocal-instrumental pieces to Polish texts selected with fine discrimination. His main compositional idea was to explore sound color in music. His last work – Pianophonie (1979) – used the possibilities provided by electronic processing of live piano sound. Serocki was one of the founders, along with Tadeusz Baird, of the Warsaw Autumn international contemporary music festival (1956). Together with Tadeusz Baird and Jan Krenz he formed the composers’ group Group 49. He was vice-president of the central a

Klaudia Pasternak

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Klaudia Pasternak (born 1980) is a Polish contemporary composer and opera conductor, who has twice been nominated for the prestigious Paszport Polityki (Policy Passport). Life Pasternak was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a musical family. At the age of 12, she began composing her own music, her first piece being a Suite for piano. At the age of 11, she started playing percussion and studied with Bogdan Lauks, in the Music High School of Józef Elsner. She also began to conduct at that time. At the age of 17, she received her first composer award. In 2000 she began studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. She studied composition with Stanisław Moryto and symphony – opera with Tomasz Bugaj. Pasternak lives and works in Warsaw. She is also involved in supporting democratic values and woman rights in Poland and abroad. Events In 2000 and 2005 Pasternak received a scholarship from The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Poland. In 2000 and 2005 she was nominated to Policy Passport in the Music category. In 2000, she participated in the 20th International Composers Course in Radziejowice, organized by the Society for Contemporary Music, where she met Christina Asher

Konrad Pałubicki

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Konrad Józef Pałubicki (1910–1992) was a Polish composer, musicologist, teacher, cultural activist and animator in Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz. He created the hymn of Bydgoszcz and taught at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Institute of Music Education of the Higher Pedagogical School in Bydgoszcz (today’s Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz). Biography Early life Konrad was born on 16 March 1910 in Dziembówko, a village near Chodzież. He was the son of Wanda Née Wyrwicka and Franciszek, a railway official. His mother was a teacher and played the piano; she instilled in her son a love of music, literature and theater. By the end of World War I, he moved with his parents to live in Bydgoszcz. There he attended the State High School of Humanities, today the High Seminary of Bydgoszcz Diocese at 18 Grodzka Street. At the age of 17, he became interested in music and started taking private piano lessons from , a pianist from Lviv who settled in Bydgoszcz in 1923 to teach at the Conservatory of Music. Thanks to a scholarship holder from the Directorate of Railways in Gdańsk, Pałubicki then studied music at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. In June 1937, he received a master’s

Konstanty Gorski

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Konstanty Antoni Gorski () (Lida, 13 June 1859 – 31 May 1924, Poznań) was a Polish composer, violinist, organist and music teacher. Life Gorski began attending school in Grodno and continued at the First Philological Gymnasium in Wilno. He obtained his musical education at the Musical Institute in Warsaw (then under the direction of Apolinary Kątski) and at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1881 he graduated from the great Hungarian violinist and pedagogue Leopold Auer class and received large silver medal and “free artist” status. Next year he spent studying composition and instrumentation in class of famous Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In year 1890 after eight-years-trip over Russia and Georgia – through Penza, Saratov and Tiflis (Tbilisi nowadays) Konstanty Gorski arrived to Ukrainian city of Kharkov to stay there for 29 years. He spent those years teaching youth in Kharkov Musical Secondary School, performing public work (he was one of the “Polish House” culture organization founders), working as conductor of symphonic orchestra and Polish and Church Chorus that was created due to his efforts, and staying beloved by publicity violinist and highly valued by other

Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar

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Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar (5 September 1924, Lviv, now Ukraine – 27 September 2008, Kraków) was a Polish composer, music educator and pianist. She was born in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), and after World War II studied at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków with Stanisław Wiechowicz for composition and Jan Hoffman for piano. After completing her studies, she took a position as professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków and also served as Rector from 1987 to 1993. She died in Kraków after an extended illness. Honors and awards *Winner of the Young Composers’ Competition of the Polish Composers’ Union (1954) *International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim (1961, 1966) *First Prize/Gold Medal, International Competition for Women Composers in Buenos Aires (1962) *Second Prize Karol Szymanowski Composers’ Competition (1974) *Award of the Polish Composers’ Union *Award of the Minister of Culture and Art (five times) *Award of Merit for National Culture *Prime Minister’s Award *Honoris Causa doctorate from the Music Academy in Kraków *City of Kraków Award Works Moszumanska-Nazar composed for orchestra, chamber ensemble, piano, vocal and electronic performance. Sel

Krzesimir Dębski

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Krzesimir Marcin Dębski (; born 26 October 1953 in Wałbrzych) is a Polish composer, conductor and jazz violinist. His music career as a musician has been that of a performer as well as composer of classical music, opera, television and feature films. In 2024, he became the recipient of the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture. Professional career Dębski was born in 1953 in Wałbrzych and began attending a music school in Kielce at the age of six. He subsequently studied composition with Andrzej Koszewski, and conducting with Witold Krzemieński, at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland. Following graduation, Dębski became interested in jazz. Since 1982, as the leader and violinist of the jazz group String Connection, he has performed in the United States, Canada and over 25 countries in Europe. In 1986 Dębski has cut down on his concert performances and concentrated primarily on composition. He has composed more than 60 symphonic and chamber music pieces, including an opera, 2 symphonies, religious works and 9 instrumental concertos. Since 1986, he has composed the music for over 70 films, received 8 platinum albums and has composed music for the highest-grossing

Krzysztof Aleksander Janczak

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Krzysztof Aleksander Janczak (born 1 May 1983) is a Polish composer of film, classical and TV music, sound designer and musicologist. Biography Janczak was born on 1 May 1983 in Warsaw, Poland. From 2002 to 2006 he studied in Institute of Musicology at University of Warsaw. In 2007, he got his Diploma of Musicology and received the Artistic Scholarship of the French Government. He continued his studies in composition and orchestration classes in École Normale de Musique de Paris and Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Paris with Michel Merlet, the winner of the Grand Prix de Rome and former student of Olivier Messiaen and Igor Stravinsky. In 2008 he got his Diplomas of musical composition and Orchestration with a special mention and in 2009 he got Advanced Diploma of Orchestration. Janczak is the award-winning composer of film, classical and television music. He received the prizes and distinctions at numerous festivals and competitions, among other: International Film Festival Camerimage in Łódź (2004 and 2008); Silver Cross of Merit form President of Poland in Warsaw (2006); 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize at the International Composers Competition “Garden Music” in Kraków (2007, 2009 and 2011)

Krzysztof Knittel

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Krzysztof Knittel (born 1 May 1947) is a Polish composer of symphonic, chamber, stage and electroacoustic works. Knittel was born in Warsaw. He studied sound engineering and composition with Tadeusz Baird, Andrzej Dobrowolski, Wlodzimierz Kotonski at the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. References External links * Krzysztof Knittel, pwm.com.pl *Profile, polmic.pl

Krzysztof Komeda

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Krzysztof Trzciński (27 April 1931 – 23 April 1969), known professionally as Krzysztof Komeda, was a Polish film composer and jazz pianist widely regarded as one of the most influential Polish musicians. He is best known for writing the scores for Roman Polanski’s films Knife in the Water (1962), Cul-de-sac (1966), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), and Rosemary’s Baby (1968). Komeda’s album Astigmatic (1965) is often considered one of the most important European jazz albums. British critic Stuart Nicholson describes the album as “marking a shift away from the dominant American approach with the emergence of a specific European aesthetic.” Komeda is also known for blending jazz with classical and traditional Polish music. Life and career Early life and education He was born Krzysztof Trzciński on 27 April 1931 in Poznań to father Mieczysław and mother Zenobia (née Gębicka). He chose Komeda as his stage name only upon graduation from university as a means of distancing himself as a jazz musician from his daytime job in a medical clinic. He grew up in Częstochowa and Ostrów Wielkopolski where in 1950 he graduated from the ’liceum (high school) for Boys’. While at school, he partici

Krzysztof Penderecki

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Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, After graduating from the Academy of Music in Krakow, he became a teacher there and began his career as a composer in 1959 during the Warsaw Autumn festival. His Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra and the choral work St. Luke Passion have received popular acclaim. His first opera, The Devils of Loudun, was never successful despite repeated revisions. In the mid-1970s, Penderecki became a professor at the Yale School of Music. From the mid-1970s his composition style changed, with his first violin concerto focusing on the semitone and the tritone. His choral work Polish Requiem was written in the 1980s and expanded in 1993 and 2005. Penderecki won many prestigious awards, including the Prix Italia in 1967 and 1968; the Wihuri Sibelius Prize of 1983; four Grammy Awards in 1987, 1998 (twice), and 2017; the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1987; and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1992. In 2012, Sean Michaels of The Guardian called him “arguably Poland’s greatest liv

Kuba Badach

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Kuba Badach ( Polish pronunciation : ; born 24 August 1976) is a Polish singer, composer, arranger, music producer, music journalist and television personality. He’s a co-founder and member of the band Poluzjanci and member of the band The Globetrotters. In 2024, Badach became a coach on the fifteenth season of The Voice of Poland. Badach was the winning coach when his artist Anna Iwanek won the season. Discography With Poluzjanci * Tak po prostu (2000) *Druga płyta (2010) With The Globetrotters * The Globetrotters (2000) * Fairy Tales of the Trees (2003) Solo * Gwiazdkowe cuda (1988) * Tribute to Andrzej Zaucha. Obecny (2009) * Oldschool (2017) References

Lidia Zielińska

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Lidia Zielińska (born 9 October 1953) is a Polish composer and music educator. Biography Lidia Zielińska was born in Poznań, Poland. She graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Poznań in 1979 after studying composition under Andrzej Koszewski. She also studied composition and electronic music in Poland and at ‘Musicultura’ in Breukelen, the M. Deutsch Symphonic Workshop in Paris, IRCAM courses in Kraków and the Polish Society for Contemporary Music courses in Rydzyna and Wzdów. Zielińska took a position as professor of composition at the Poznań Academy of Music, and worked as a violinist in the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra and the Agnieszka Duczmal Chamber Orchestra. She also taught at the State Higher School of Visual Arts, Wrocław Academy of Music, and was a guest lecturer for summer courses in Poland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Belarus and Moldova. Zielińska received a number of prizes for her compositions in Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany, Switzerland and France. In 1993/94, she worked with the EuroMusicTheater project, and in 1994/95 was part of the Donau Ballet project. In 1995/96 she was the composer-in-residence at the Electronic Music S

Ludmila Jeske-Choińska-Mikorska

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Ludmila Jeske-Choińska-Mikorska (1849 – 2 November 1898) was a Polish singer and composer. She was born in Małachowo, near Poznań, and studied singing in Vienna with Mathilde Marchesi and in Milan with Francesco Lamperti and composition in Warsaw with Gustaw Roguski and Zygmunt Noskowski. She taught in Poznań beginning in 1877, and later in Warsaw. Her symphonic poem Rusalka won an award in Chicago in 1893. She married Teodore Jeske-Choiński and died in Warsaw. Works Mikorska wrote for orchestra and theater, and also dances and works for piano. Selected works include: *Rusalka symphonic poem *Markiz de Créqui, comic opera, 1892 *Filutka, operetta, 1884 *Zuch dziewczyna, operetta, 1884 References External links * Scores by Ludmila Jeske-Choińska-Mikorska in digital library Polona

Ludomir Różycki

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Ludomir Różycki (; 18 September 1883 Warsaw – 1 January 1953 Katowice) was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue. He was, with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, a member of the group of composers known as Young Poland, the intention of which was to invigorate the musical culture of their generation in their mother country. Life He was a son of a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition. He completed his studies with distinction, and then continued his studies in Berlin at the Academy of Music under Engelbert Humperdinck. He began his musical career as a conductor of opera and professor of piano in Lwów in 1907. It was while in Lwów that he began to compose. Subsequently, he moved to Warsaw but had to flee during the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, he lived and taught in Katowice. Music Różycki’s ballet Pan Twardowski (1920) was the first Polish large-scale ballet to be performed abroad, being seen in Copenhagen, Prague, Brno, Zagreb, Belgrade and Vienna, and being performed over 800 times in Warsaw. His eight operas included Casanova and Eros i Psyche (Eros and Psyche, to the libretto of Jerzy Żuławski), the lat

Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson

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Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson (Lewis-William Ferguson-Tepper, Tepper von Ferguson, Louis-Guillaume Tepper de Ferguson; 18 December 1768, Warsaw – 12 September 1838, Paris) was a Polish–Russian musician and composer, a music teacher mainly associated with the Imperial Lycée in Tsarskoye Selo (near St Petersburg, Russia). Biography Origin of the family Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson was born in Warsaw as the sixth child and third son of the extremely wealthy Polish banker Piotr Fergusson Tepper and his wife Maria-Philipina, née Valentin d’Hauterive. The surname ‘Ferguson’ indicates the Scottish origin of the family. Indeed, in 1703, his grandfather William Ferguson of Inverurie had emigrated from Scotland to Poland. In 1714, William Ferguson married Katherina-Concordia Tepper, a sister of the wealthy and influential merchant and banker, furrier and fur trader Pjotr Tepper of Poznań. Pjotr Tepper managed the large-scale international trade using family connections, and imported goods to Poland from many countries, including Britain. William Ferguson and Katherina-Concordia had three sons. One of them, Peter (1732–1794), who would become Ludwig-Wilhelm’s father, entered into par

Maciej Kamieński

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Maciej Kamieński (13 October 1734, Sopron – 25 January 1821, Warsaw) was a Polish classical composer of Slovak origin. He studied music in Sopron, where his patron was Count Henckl von Donnersmarck. After his death (1760), Kamieński moved to Vienna to continue his education. There in 1762, he heard young Mozart play. He visited Warsaw for the first time in 1773: this year the publishing house of J. Engel issued some harpsichord works by Kamieński (today lost). He gave piano and singing lessons, held an inn in Warsaw (on Świętojerska street) and organized public concerts at Dulfowski manor house. Compositions Kamieński’s output includes 8 operas (2 German, 6 Polish), which the composer himself called operettas. Nędza uszczęśliwiona (1778) was long considered the first Polish opera to be performed in public theatre. It opened a new era for Polish musical theatre. Kamieński’s musical language shows a mixture of styles, from baroque and galant to classical. There are also some characteristics of opera buffa. They all are present in Nędza uszczęśliwiona. After his successes, Kamieński turned more and more towards folklore, using structures from authentic Polish folk music. It can be cle

Maciej Radziwiłł

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Prince Maciej Radziwiłł (; 10 November 1749 – 2 September 1800) was a Polish–Lithuanian noble (szlachcic), composer and librettist. Biography Around 1780, Maciej (Matthias) lived at Nieśwież, the house of Karol Radziwiłł, voivode of Vilnius, who maintained a company of actors, musicians and dancers there and at his estates in Alba (near Nieśwież), Ołyka, Słuck, Biała Podlaska and elsewhere. While at Nieśwież, Radziwiłł wrote the libretto for Jan Dawid Holland’s opera Agatka, czyli Przyjazd pana (‘Agatha, or The Master’s Arrival’) which was performed on 17 September 1784 during King Stanisław August’s visit to Nieśwież. He also wrote the libretto and composed the music for the three-act opera Wójt osady albiańskiej (‘The Headman of the Settlers at Alba’) which premiered in Alba on 4 November 1786. Radziwiłł was owner of Szydłowiec, Grand Podkomorzy of Lithuania since 1786, and castellan of Vilnius since 1788. He moved to Vilnius where he composed some instrumental and orchestral music and was awarded with the Order of the White Eagle on February 18, 1788. Sources *Alina Nowak-Romanowicz: “Prince Maciej Radziwiłł”, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed September 20, 2008), (subscr

Maciej Zieliński

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Maciej Zielinski (born March 29, 1971) is the award-winning Polish composer, arranger and music producer, known for his contemporary classical and film scores, songs and original television music. His contemporary classical music has been awarded at 8 composers’ contests, including two international competitions and it was performed at many international festivals, including the Warsaw Autumn Festival and ISCM World Music Days. He has written scores for popular Polish movies and for independent US productions. In 2019 he received “Best Score” award at the “New Filmmakers LA Awards” in Los Angeles and nomination for “Crystal Pine Award” at the International Sound and Film Music Festival in Croatia. In 2016, 2017, and 2020 he received nominations for the Polish Film Academy Award - “Eagle” (Polish: Polskie Nagrody Filmowe: Orły) in “Best Music” category. In 2012 he was nominated for “Fryderyk” – the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) in the category “Composer of the Year”. His music has been released on nearly 30 albums. Contemporary classical music Maciej Zielinski’s contemporary classical music is frequently performed at major contem

Maciej Żółtowski

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Maciej Żółtowski - alternative spelling: Zoltowski (born 1971, Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish conductor and composer. Maciej Żółtowski studied violin at the F. Chopin and J. Elsner Music Schools in Warsaw. Having earned his diploma in violin performance with distinction, he continued his studies at the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he graduated in 1996 in composition and in 1997 in conducting faculty, obtaining both M.A. diplomas with awards. His teachers at the academy included Prof. Marian Borkowski and Prof. Ryszard Dudek. Maciej Żółtowski participated in many master-courses working under supervision of notable artists like Zoltán Pesko, Lászlo Tihanyi, Yuri Simonov and Gianluigi Gelmetti. For the artistic achievements, he received twice the Polish Ministry of Culture scholarship and the Tadeusz Baird scholarship. In 1997, he was awarded with the fellowship of the German Stiftung Kulturfonds in Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf. In 2000, he won the scholarship for young conductors of the Japanese Music Foundation JESC. He was the winner of the first composers’ competition held by the Musica Sacra Institute in Warsaw. In 1999, he was the finalist of the Toru Takemitsu C

Maciek Pysz

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Maciek Pysz (born 6 September 1982 in Rybnik, Poland) is a jazz musician, guitarist and composer. He is known for his clear lyrical phrasing, his virtuosity and his imaginative, cinematic compositions inspired by people, places and experiences. Career Maciek Pysz is a self-taught musician, who has been playing guitar since the age of 9. He has been inspired by musicians such as Al Di Meola, Sylvain Luc, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Biréli Lagrène, Chick Corea and Ralph Towner. Pysz plays acoustic and classical guitars and his influences come from tango, flamenco, Latin, jazz, Brazilian and classical music. His compositions are known for their lyricism, well developed melodic sense, and imagination. He moved to London in 2003 and established his first project, the Maciek Pysz Trio, in 2008 and recorded his first EP Discoveries the same year. Touring and collaborations followed, including a quartet with the addition of accordionist/pianist Maurizio Minardi and harmonica player Patrick Bettison. He appeared on Polish National TV in 2010, and established his trio with drummer Asaf Sirkis and bassist Yuri Goloubev. He appeared at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Poland in 2011

Marcel Chyrzyński

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Marcel Chyrzyński (born in 1971) is a Polish composer. He has been described as “a polystylist with an enormous sense of humour, and a lover of rhythm and jazz improvisation”. Chyrzyński’s works have been performed throughout Europe, as well as in South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the USA and Canada. Chyrzyński completed a master’s degree at the Academy of Music in Kraków in 1995, where he studied composition with Marek Stachowski, orchestration with Krzysztof Penderecki, and computer music with Marek Choloniewski, Richard Boulanger, Cindy McTee and Rodney Oaks. Since 1994 he has been a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Kraków, and in 2010 became an associate professor in the Department of Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music. In 1998 he was awarded a doctorate in composition. Since 2014 he has been director of the Institute of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory. Chyrzyński has received many awards and prizes, including 1st prize in the A.Krzanowski Competition for Young Composers in Bielsko-Biała, 1st prize at the 3rd All-Polish Adam Didur Composers’ Competition in Sanok (1994), a citation in the Composers’ Competition of the Polish Radio in Warsaw (1996),

Marcin Bortnowski

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Marcin Bortnowski (born 1 March 1972 in Żary, Poland) is a Polish composer of classical music. Life He studied composition with Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil at the Music Academy in Wrocław, graduating with honours in 1997. He took part in the 2nd International Meetings of Young Composers in Apeldoorn, organised by the Gaudeamus Foundation (1996) and in the experimental and computer music workshops at the University of Ghent (1997). In 2003 he obtained a doctoral degree in composition, and in 2012 a habilitation in the same discipline. In 2020 he received the title of Professor from the President of the Republic of Poland. Apart from writing music, he is also active as a lecturer in composition, contemporary composition techniques and computer music on the faculty of the Academy of Music in Wrocław. His accolades include awards at the Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers (2nd Prize for String Quartet No. 2 and Special Prize for String Quartet No. 1 in 1995, 2nd Prize for Music for… in 1997), the National Composition” Competition in Gdańsk, 1997 (3rd Prize for Symphony No. 1) and at the Pan Accordion Competition 2000 (1st Prize for Music in Lent for accordion and string qu

Marcin Leopolita

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Marcin Leopolita (also Martinus Leopolita; ; Life Leopolita was born in Lwów in the Kingdom of Poland (present-day Lviv, Ukraine). By the age of 20 he was a member of the royal music ensemble at the court of Zygmunt August, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. apparently becoming court composer there in 1560. After 1564, he returned to Lviv, where he lived until his death in 1589. Few compositions by Leopolita have survived. Four motets written in Latin (, , and ) are preserved in organ tablature. Of these, can be restored with confidence to its original vocal form. his connection with the manuscript is uncertain. Leopolita’s five-part mass is the only complete exant 16th-century Polish mass, and the , which adds a sixth voice (a second ) has the distinction of being the earliest extant example of six-part Polish polyphony. It is based on themes from four Polish vernacular Easter songs—hence the designation ‘Paschalis’—of which is the most prominent. Recordings * Early Polish Masses Gorczycki: Missa Paschalis Leopolita: Missa Paschalis Mielczewski: Missa super “O Gloriosa Domina” Jaroslaw Malanowicz (organ) Il Canto CD Accord - ACD018 * Waclaw z Szamotul: Songs and Motets an

Marcin Mielczewski

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Marcin Mielczewski (c. 1600 – September 1651) was, together with his tutor Franciszek Lilius and Bartłomiej Pękiel, among the most notable Polish composers in the 17th century. Biography By 1632 he was a composer and musician in the royal chapel in Warsaw. In 1645 he became director of music to Charles Ferdinand Vasa, the brother of King Władysław IV. Mielczewski died in Warsaw in September 1651. His known works are largely in the stile concertato, and Szweykowski suggests that the way “in which the words are given full expression” means he is likely to have composed secular vocal works in addition to the surviving sacred corpus. In his mass O glorioso domina and one of his instrumental canzonas, Mielczewski quotes popular Polish tunes; the latter is notable for being the earliest documented use of the mazurka in classical music. Works Masses *Missa Triumphalis a 14 *Missa Cerviensiana, six voices and six instruments *Missa O Gloriosa domina, six voices and basso continuo *Missa super ‘O Gloriosa Domina’ Motet * Ante thorum huius Virginis * Audite et admiramini * Audite gentes et exsultate * Beata Dei Genitrix * Benedictio et claritas * Benedictus sit Deus * Confitemini Domino * Cr

Marcin Przybyłowicz

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Marcin Przybyłowicz (born ) is a Polish composer and sound designer. He is mostly known for as the lead composer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. He also composed the score to the Polish television historical drama Korona królów. He was born on the day of the May 1985 lunar eclipse. Works References External links * * * *

Marek Stachowski (composer)

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Marek Stachowski (21 March 1936 – 3 November 2004) was a Polish composer. He received many awards and won many competitions for composers, including first prize at the K. Szymanowski Competition in 1974. Personal life and education Stachowski was born March 21, 1936, in Piekary Śląskie and died in Kraków on 3 December 2004. Stachowski spent the first three years of life with his parents in the Silesia province of Poland. However, after the start of World War II, he traveled with his mother across Poland to Bydgoszcz, where the composer’s father was hiding from the Nazis. In 1952, Stachowski began attending the piano classes given by Stanisław Czerny at the State First Level Music School in Kraków. In 1959, at the State Second Level Music School he obtained a diploma in piano on a “fast-track” basis, and also in 1960 in the theory of music. In 1962 he married Maria Jabłońska. From 1963 to 1968, Stachowski studied composition under Krzysztof Penderecki and music theory at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków (today known as Academy of Music in Kraków), from which he graduated with honours. During his studies at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków (today known as Academy

Maria Szymanowska

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Maria Szymanowska ( Polish pronunciation: ; born Marianna Agata Wołowska; Warsaw, 14 December 1789 – 25 July 1831, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Polish composer and one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. She toured extensively throughout Europe, especially in the 1820s, before settling permanently in Saint Petersburg. In the Russian imperial capital, she composed for the court, gave concerts, taught music, and ran an influential salon. The salons in 18th-century France were intellectual gatherings held at home by educated women. In 1837, the composer and music critic Robert Schumann defined salon music as elegant light music and stated that this type of social music should sound beautiful, delicate, and fashionable. Szymanowska was highly praised by Schumann for her salon music works, especially her etudes. Her compositions—largely piano pieces, songs, and other small chamber works, as well as the first piano concert etudes and nocturnes in Poland—typify the of the era preceding Frédéric Chopin. She was the mother of Celina Szymanowska, who married the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz. Biography Marianna Agata Wołowska was born in Warsaw, Poland,

Marian Sawa

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Marian Sawa (January 12, 1937 in Krasnystaw – April 27, 2005 in Warsaw) was a Polish composer, organist, improviser, musicologist, and pedagogue. Biography Sawa graduated from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland in Feliks Rączkowski’s organ class and Kazimierz Sikorski’s composition class. As a pedagogue he worked in Warsaw music education at the higher and academic level: J.Elsner Music School, K.Szymanowski Music School, F. Chopin Music Academy and Kardynal Stefan Wyszynski University (theoretical and practical musicology). He toured as a soloist and an accompanist around the country and abroad. He recorded many LPs and CDs for such companies as Polskie Nagrania, Veriton, Polonia Records, Arston, DUX, and Acte Preable. He was awarded many composition prizes, including First Prize at the Young Composers Competition ZKP(for Assemblage for orchestra), as well as civil prizes and distinctions (the prizes of the Ministry of Culture and Art, and the Ministry of National Education). Compositions Sawa composed around 1,000 pieces, including instrumental, vocal and vocal-instrumental works. He was a well-known and prolific organ composer (i.e. five organ concerts, sonatas, fa

Marta Ptaszynska

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Marta Ptaszyńska (born 29 July 1943) is a Polish composer, percussionist and professor of music at the University of Chicago. She has been described by the Polish Music Center of the University of Southern California as “one of the best known Polish woman composers” as well as “a virtuoso percussionist specializing in performances of contemporary music”. Career Ptaszyńska was born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1998, she was appointed a Professor of Music and the Humanities at the University of Chicago. Since 2005 she holds an endowed chair of Helen B. & Frank L. Sulzberger Professor in Composition. She has been honored with many prizes and awards including Simon J. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Danks Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Music Foundation Award, the Award at the International Rostrum of Composers at the UNESCO in Paris, several ASCAP Awards, and many more. In 1995, she received the Officer Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Works Orchestral music Vocal and instrumental works Chamber music Instrumental and solo works Multimedia works Music for children Books *Ptaszynska, Marta & Niewiadomska, Barbara; Colorful World of Percussion (1978)

Marzena Komsta

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Marzena Komsta (born 7 February 1970) is a Polish composer of contemporary music who resides in France. Life and career Marzena Komsta was born in Gdynia, Poland, and studied composition at the S. Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and at the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw under W. Kotonski and Z. Baginski. She continued her studies at the Higher National Conservatory of Music in Lyon under Philippe Manoury and D. Lorraine in acoustic, electroacoustic and computer music, and in Paris at IRCAM for doctoral training in music and 20th century musicology. Her music has been performed internationally and is available as recordings. Awards *1993 Witold Lutoslawski grant *2003 Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto *1999 ”Manuel Valcárcel“ International piano composition competition in Santander, Spain *Fellowship Academy of Warsaw award winner *Nadia and Lili Boulanger Foundation award winner *Witold Lutoslawski Foundation award winner Works Komsta composes both instrumental and electroacoustic works. Selected compositions include: *“Sequentia” for amplified string quartet and electronics (2024) *“In death I found life” for Sopran, Alt, clarinet and piano (2023) *“Ad lucem” for 12-voices female

Max Fishman

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Max Shakhnovich Fishman (Polish: Mieczysław (Mietek) Fiszman /Fischman/; Romanian: Max Fișman; Russian: Макс Шахнович Фишман, known as Max Benovich Fishman), (December 12, 1915—September 24, 1985) was a Moldavian Soviet composer, pianist, and teacher. Fishman was raised within Jewish, Polish, and Russian cultural traditions. . Born in Warsaw he studied piano at the Chopin University of Music. He was well-known in the Polish music scene. During the Nazi invasion in Poland in 1939 he fled to the Soviet Union. Later he was arrested by the NKVD and deported. In the 1950s, Fishman lived in Chișinău. He laid the pedagogical foundation of the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chișinău. He composed, including piano concertos, chamber music and orchestral works. His aesthetic reflects blend of Ashkenazi Jewish folk motifs, Slavic Romanticism, and Soviet neoclassicism. Biography Life in Poland Max Fishman was born on December 12, 1915, in Warsaw, in the family of an entrepreneur, philanthropist and the head of the Warsaw synagogue (1870, Opatów – July 1, 1936, Warsaw) and Esther Fishman, née Bleiberg (1880, Ćmielów – according to some sources 1942–1943 in the Warsaw Ghetto or Trebli

Michał Kondracki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Michał Kondracki (5 October 1902 – 27 February 1984) was a Polish composer. His work was part of the music event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Michał Kondracki was born on October 5, 1902 in Poltava, and died on 27 February 1984 in Glen Cove (near New York), Polish composer. In the years 1923-27 he studied at the conservatory in Warsaw with R. Statkowski and K. Szymanowski (composition) and H. Melcer (piano). In 1927-30 he studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris with P. Dukas, P. Vidal and N. Boulanger; he was also secretary of the Association of Young Polish Musicians in Paris. After returning to Warsaw he occupied himself with composing, music criticism and journalism, and charitable activities. Kondracki was co-organizer and vice president of the Polish Society for Contemporary Music, vice-president of the Association of Writers and Music Critics, a member of the artistic advisory board of the Warsaw Opera and board member of: the Society of Friends of Artistic Dance Society and the K. Szymanowski Society. He also collected folk music of the Hucul, Podhale and Żywiec regions. The outbreak of war in 1939 found him in the Mediterranean. In 1940 he ar

Michał Lorenc

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Michał Lorenc ( Polish : ; born 5 October 1955) is a Polish film score composer, who composed music of films such as 300 Miles to Heaven (1989), Psy (1992), Bastard (1997), Blood and Wine (1997) and Little Rose (2010). Career He was born on 5 October 1955 in Warsaw. In 1973, he joined the folk rock band Wolna grupa Bukowina founded by Wojciech Belon and remained one of its members for four years. In the 1970s, he collaborated with Marcin Wolski on Polish Radio Programme 3 and frequently appeared on Maciej Zembaty’s radio show Zgryz. Between 1979 and 1981, he was one of the members of Teatr panoramiczny together with Jacek Kleyff and Michał Tarkowski. Since his debut in 1979, Lorenc has composed music for more than 150 feature films, documentaries, TV series and theatre performances. He has won five Golden Lions at the Gdynia Film Festival and Polish Film Festival Award for best movie score. The films and TV series in which his film scores appear include Sekal Has to Die, Little Rose, 300 Miles to Heaven, A Prominent Patient, Ojciec Mateusz, Bastard, Fotoamator, Four Nights with Anna, Kołysanka, Exit in Red, Kanalia, Sauna, Kroll, Deborah, Przedwiośnie, Żurek, Glina, Złoto dezerteró

Mieczysław Karłowicz

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Mieczysław Karłowicz (, 11 December 18768 February 1909) was a Polish composer and conductor. Life Mieczysław Karłowicz was born in Vishneva, in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) into a noble family belonging to Clan Ostoja. His father Jan was a Polish linguist, lexicographer, and musician. As a child, Karłowicz studied violin, for which he later composed his only concerto. Karłowicz studied in Warsaw with Zygmunt Noskowski, Stanisław Barcewicz, Piotr Maszyński, and Gustaw Roguski. He later studied in Berlin with Heinrich Urban, to whom he dedicated his Serenade for Strings, which he composed and performed while Urban’s student. From 1906 to 1907 he studied conducting with Arthur Nikisch. Career Karłowicz’s music is of a late Romantic character. He was a great admirer of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky whose Symphony No. 6 he praised. Tchaikovsky’s influence can be heard in Karłowicz’s earlier works, most notably the E minor symphony and the Violin Concerto. Like most of the late Romantics he also fell under the considerable influence of Richard Wagner, especially with Tristan und Isolde. Nevertheless, he managed to develop an original musical language expressed

Mieczysław Weinberg

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Mieczysław Weinberg (December 8, 1919 – February 26, 1996) was a Polish, Soviet, and Russian composer and pianist. Born in Warsaw to parents who worked in the Yiddish theatre in Poland, his early years were surrounded by music. At the age of 12, he began formal music lessons. Later, he studied piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1939, Weinberg fled Warsaw when Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. His family was later murdered at the Trawniki concentration camp. Weinberg found refuge in the Soviet Union. He established himself successfully in Moscow with support from Dmitri Shostakovich and the Committee on the Arts. Postwar changes in Soviet cultural policy led to increased persecution of minority groups, including Jews. Although Weinberg’s music was well regarded and regularly played, he was surveilled and harassed by the MVD. On February 6, 1953, Weinberg was arrested and jailed at Lubyanka Prison. Intercession on his behalf by Shostakovich and Stalin’s death led to Weinberg’s release on April 25. The 1960s were the peak of Weinberg’s professional success. Aside from his concert works, his music for film also became well known. His score for Fyodor Khitruk’s cartoon

Mikołaj Gomółka

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Mikołaj Gomółka (c. 1535 – after 30 April 1591, most probably 5 March 1609) was a Polish Renaissance composer and a member of the royal court of Sigismund II Augustus. At the court, he served as a singer, flutist, and trumpeter. Life Gomółka was born in Sandomierz. Between 1545 and 1563, he resided at the royal court, where he acquired proficiency in playing the flute, the ‘sztort’ (an old Polish wind instrument, a prototype of the bassoon), the violin, and the lute. He eventually became a full-fledged musician of the royal chapel. After leaving the court, he took on various social and legal roles in Sandomierz. He spent some time at the court of Kraków bishop Piotr Myszkowski, Gomółka also conducted mining research near Muszyna and resided at the court of Jan Zamoyski in Kraków. As of 30 April 1591, he was still living there, which marks the last known date of his life. The only preserved work by Gomółka is a collection of 150 independent compositions to the text of David’s Psalter by Jan Kochanowski, for four-part unaccompanied mixed choir. The music is fully subordinated to the contents and the expressive layer of the text; he illustrates the mood or particular words by means of

Mikołaj Górecki

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Mikołaj Górecki (born 1971) is a Polish composer. He is the son of the composer Henryk Górecki (1933-2010). In 1995 he graduated with honours in composition from the Music Academy in Katowice. In 1996, he received two scholarships from The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. In 2000 he received a doctorate in composition from Indiana University, Bloomington in the United States. In 2001-2002 he lectured at McGill University in Montreal. He currently lives and works in the United States. Works (in chronological order) * Four pieces for orchestra (1990) * Concertino for piano and orchestra (1990) * Appassionato for solo soprano, choir and orchestra (1991) * Three pieces for clarinet and piano (1992) * Sonata for clarinet and piano (1994) * Toccata for two pianos (1996) * Six bagatelles for violin, cello and piano (1997) * Sinfonietta for 12 instruments and percussion (1998) * Trzy fragmenty (Three fragments) for string orchestra (1998) * Capriccio for piano and orchestra (1998) * In memoriam (A.Sch., A.R., A.W.) for six instruments (1999) * Three episodes for orchestra (1999) * Trzy intermezza (Three intermezzos) for clarinet and string sextet (ver. 1) (1999) * Trzy intermezza (Thre

Mikołaj z Radomia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mikołaj Radomski, also called Mikołaj z Radomia and Nicholas of Radom, was an early 15th-century Polish composer. He was connected with the court of Władysław Jagiełło and wrote polyphonic music renowned for its expression of religious contemplation. Life and career Mikołaj z Radomia was a Polish composer working in the first half of the 15th century, probably in Kraków, known only through his signatures on a few compositions: „N. de Radom”, „Nicolaus de Radom” and „Mycolay Radomsky”. Searches for the composer’s identity have not brought any results so far. Hypotheses have been put forward in the literature (for example H. Musielak) linking the identity of Mikołaj with any person in the sources with that name (e.g. „Nicolaus clavicembalista dominae reginae Poloniae” from 1422, „Nicolaus Geraldi de Radom”, who studied in Kraków, where he gained his master’s degree, and in the years 1389–91 was named in the Vatican acts as a spiritual person born in Radom and linked with the Kraków diocese, a few Mikołajs from Radom studying in the Kraków Academy in the years 1420, 1426 and others, a few signed in manuscripts from the second half of the 14th century and the second half of the 15th ce

Mikołaj Zieleński

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Mikołaj Zieleński (or Zelenscius; ) was a Polish composer, organist, and Kapellmeister to the primate Baranowski, Archbishop of Gniezno. Life Neither the date of his birth nor of his death are known; documents from Płock Cathedral state he was from Warka and show him to have been a member of the diocese in 1604 and organist in 1606, and in 1611 he married and was involved in a court case. The March 1611 dedication of his book places him at the Archbishop’s court in Łowicz, and that Baranowski hired no replacement suggests he may have survived his patron, who died in 1615. Zieleński’s only known surviving works are contained in two 1611 liturgical cycles of polychoral works, the Offertoria/Communes totius anni. These were dedicated to the Archbishop of Gniezno, Wojciech Baranowski. The whole comprises eight part-books and a ninth book, the Partitura pro organo, which constitutes the organ accompaniment. This publication contains in all 131 pieces written for various vocal and also vocal and instrumental ensembles, all with organ accompaniment. In addition to Offertories and Communions the two volume Venetian publication contains over a dozen other pieces, such as hymns, antiphons, a

Miłosz Magin

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Miłosz Magin (6 July 19294 March 1999) was a Polish composer and pianist. Biography Born in Łódź, Poland, Miłosz Magin showed considerable musical abilities from early childhood. He was a student of piano with Margerita Trombini-Kazuro and composition with both Kazimierz Sikorski and Jan Maklakiewicz; the latter he considered his spiritual father. Magin also studied violin, cello and ballet. In 1957, he completed his piano, compositional and conducting studies, graduating from the Warsaw Higher School of Music with distinction. Miłosz Magin won prizes in several top international competitions: the V International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (honorable mention), the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris and the Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon. He left his native country together with his wife Idalia Magin and stayed in Portugal, Germany, and England until finally settling in Paris in 1960. Magin’s career as an international soloist was suddenly interrupted in 1963 after his left wrist was broken in a car accident. However, he eventually regained his playing abilities, and in 1968 started recording the complete works of Chopin for Decca, which is now regar

Moritz Moszkowski

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Moritz Moszkowski (; 23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German-Polish composer, pianist, and teacher. His brother Alexander Moszkowski was a famous writer and satirist in Berlin. Ignacy Paderewski said: “After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique.” Although less known today, Moszkowski was well respected and popular during the late nineteenth century. Life and career He was born in Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland), into a wealthy Polish-Jewish family whose parents had come to Breslau from Pilica, near Zawiercie, in 1854. He was an ardent Jew at a time when many Jews downplayed their Jewishness. He showed early talent while very young, beginning his musical training at home until 1865, when his family moved to Dresden. There he continued his piano studies at the conservatory. He moved to Berlin in 1869 to continue his studies first at the Julius Stern Conservatory, where he studied piano with Eduard Franck and composition with Friedrich Kiel, and then at Theodor Kullak’s Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, where he studied composition with Richard Wüerst and orchestration with Heinrich Dor

Natalia Janotha

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Natalia Janotha (8 June 18569 June 1932) was a Polish pianist and composer. Biography Natalia Janotha was born in Warsaw, Poland, the daughter of Juliusz Janotha, who was a composer and teacher at the Music Institute in Warsaw. She started piano lessons with her father at a young age and later studied music in Berlin with Ernst Rudorff, Woldemar Bargiel, and Clara Schumann. She also may have had lessons from Johannes Brahms. She performed her first recital in 1868 and toured Europe as a concert pianist. She was known as an interpreter of the music of Chopin, whose sister was a very close friend of her mother’s; and she received advice from Chopin’s pupil Princess Czartoryska née Radziwill. In 1885 she became the Imperial Court pianist in Berlin. She also won notoriety as a mountain climber, sometimes wearing men’s trousers. In 1883 she became the first woman to ascend Gerlach, the highest mountain in the Carpathians. She lived in London for a few years, but was deported in 1915 owing to the political circumstances of World War I, because she was the German court pianist. Then, she emigrated to The Hague, where she served as accompanist to the dancer Angèle Sydow. She died in The Ha

Nicolas Chopin

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Nicolas Chopin (; 15 April 17713 May 1844) was a teacher of the French language in Partitioned Poland, and father of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Life Nicolas Chopin was born in the village of Marainville-sur-Madon (Vosges department), in the province of Lorraine, France. He was the son of François Chopin (9 November 1738, Ambacourt – 31 January 1814, Marainville), a wheelwright and village administrator for Marainville, and Marguerite, née Deflin (1 February 1736, Diarville – 21 August 1794, Marainville), an educator respected by her colleagues and students. François and Marguerite were married on 17 January 1769. Nicolas had four sisters, only two of whom survived to adulthood: Anne (b. 23 November 1769, Marainville), who married Joseph Thomas on 13 February 1798, and Marguerite (5 August 1775, Marainville – 10 March 1845), who married Nicolas Bastien on 2 December 1798. Nicolas’ godmother was his aunt Thérèse Lhumbert née Chopin, the half-sister of his father François. the Polish-born estate administrator for Count Michał Jan Pac. Weydlich took an interest in the education of young Nicolas, teaching him the rudiments of the Polish language, while Weydlich’s wife—a Parisian,

Olga Hans

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Olga Hans (born 30 May 1971) is a Polish composer and music educator. Background Olga Hans was born in Pabianice and studied at the Academy of Music in Łódź receiving diplomas with distinction in 1995 and 1997. She studied music theory with Francis Wesolowski and composition with George Bauer. After graduating, she took a position as assistant professor at the Faculty of Composition, Music Theory, Rhythm and Art Education at the Music Academy in Łódź. Hans is a prizewinner in several composition competitions. In 1997 she won third prize for Fantasy for solo guitar (1994) at the Third National Composition Competition for Classical Guitar in Tychy. In 2004 she won the International Young Composers’ Competition Musica Sacra in Czestochowa and in 2004 the Fifth Ladislav Kubik International Prize in Composition. Her compositions have been performed at music festivals in Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Great Britain. She is a member of the Polish Composers’ Union. Selected works *Preludium for piano (1992) *Koniugacja for mezzo-soprano and piano (1992); words by Halina Poświatowska *Elegia (Elegy) for cello and piano (1993) *Dwie miniatury (2 Miniatures) for string trio (1993) *Barwna

Paul Siefert

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Paul Siefert (variants: Syfert, Sivert, Sibert; 23 May 1586 – 6 May 1666) was a German composer and organist associated with the North German school. Biography He was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), Royal Prussia (a fief of the Crown of Poland) to his father’s second wife and named after his father (died 1604), who was a procurator. The Danzig city council gave a scholarship to him to study with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam from 1607 to 1610, where he studied alongside Samuel Scheidt for part of that time. Upon completion of his studies, he returned home where he became assistant organist of the Marienkirche. His application to become principal organist of the church after Cajus Schmiedtlein died in March 1611 failed due to complaints about his arrogance and style of performance. He moved to Königsberg in 1611 to take up the post of organist of Altstadt Church, and became court organist at Warsaw in 1616. He returned to Danzig in 1623 to become principal organist, where he remained until his death; he failed in an application for the post of Kapellmeister in 1627 after the death of Andreas Hakenberger, who was succeeded by Kaspar Förster. He did not lead a serene life; he became

Paweł Łukaszewski

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Paweł Łukaszewski (born 19 September 1968) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. He has won seven Fryderyk Awards. According to David Wordsworth, Łukaszewski is the best-known Polish composer of his generation in and out of Poland “by far” (Wordsworth 2013, p. 50). Biography Paweł Łukaszewski was born on September 19, 1968, in Częstochowa. His father was the composer Wojciech Łukaszewski. He is the brother of the composer Marcin Łukaszewski. Regarding Łukaszewski’s musical style, acclaimed Polish music scholar Adrian Thomas states, “Paweł Łukaszewski (b. 1968) is best known for his resolutely anti-modern sacred choral music.” Also an active conductor, Łukaszewski is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Musica Sacra choir in Warsaw. His works have been recorded on more than 50 CD albums. Łukaszewski was the composer-in-residence of the Warsaw Philharmonic in 2011/2012. He is currently a composition professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and Szczecin Academy of Art. As a composer his music has appeared on 4 CDs that have won a Fryderyk Award: 1999, 2008, 2011, and 2016. His music was nominated in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. As the conductor of Mus

Paweł Mykietyn

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Paweł Jan Mykietyn ( Polish pronunciation : ; born 20 May 1971) is a Polish award-winning composer and clarinetist. By the year 2012, Mykietyn had written two symphonies, cello, piano and violin concertos, St. Marc Passions for soprano, narrator, choir and orchestra, some chamber music and musical King Lear. As a film composer he collaborated with Andrzej Wajda in Sweet Rush (2009), Jerzy Skolimowski in Essential Killing, 11 Minutes, and EO, and Małgorzata Szumowska in It and 33 Scenes from Life. He is the recipient of many national and international awards and honours including the European Film Award for Best Composer (2022), Cannes Soundtrack Award (2022), Fryderyk Award (2009) and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2011). Life and career Paweł Mykietyn graduated in music composition under the guidance of Włodzimierz Kotoński at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 1997. He participated in The Summer Composition Courses in Kazimierz Dolny (1991,1992,1993) and Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam (1992). At the age of 22 he made his Warsaw Autumn Festival debut, with work La Strada. In 1994, as a clarinetist he won second edition contest 20th century mus

Paweł Szymański

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Paweł Szymański (born 28 March 1954 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish composer. When he was a student at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Szymański studied composition under Włodzimierz Kotoński. Paweł later studied under Roman Haubenstock-Ramanti as well as Tadeusz Baird. His music is based on strict technical discipline and the initial sound material of Szymański’s pieces has roots in past conventions but is always processed and composed from the beginning. Szymański himself talks of his music using the qualification “surconventionalism”. Though his style is similar to that of a neoclassical composer, Szymański emphasizes past styles within his works. Many of his works also include Baroque influences as well as from Renaissance fantasias. He often modifies these classical styles of music until they become abstract and impressionistic. Paweł has performed in many countries including Denmark, Austria, Japan, and the United States. He continues to live and work in Warsaw. His works have been performed by many groups including the Silesian String Quartet and Katowice Radio Symphony Orchestra. Awards * Young Polish Composers’ Competition (first prize) * Benjamin Britten Composers

Piotr Lachert

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Piotr Lachert (5 September 1938 – 18 September 2018) was a Polish composer, pianist and teacher. Lachert lived and worked in Warsaw, Paris, Hannover, Brussels and in Pescara (Italy) and was a piano teacher in a conservatoire in Brussels, the Warsaw Music School and the Pescaran Academy of Music. Lachert directed numerous university masterclasses. Originally a concert pianist, Lachert gained international recognition as a composer. He is regarded as one of the founders of the new consonant music movement. In 1973, he founded TEMV! (Théâtre européen de musique vivante!) in Brussels, which he directed for twenty years and which had a significant influence on the direction of his catalogue. Lachert composed more than 200 works including concertos, sonatas, chamber music, works for the musical theatre and didactic music. His compositions include a ballet (Aroma Tre), and numerous volumes of piano pedagogy. His music has been published by Bärenreiter, Jobert, Alain Van Kerckhoven Éditeur, and Chiola Music Press. Selected works : Many works by Piotr Lachert are published by Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur, CeBeDeM and Consonant Music Press. ;Opera * Erotic music, scène 24 (1977) * Primavera

Piotr Moss

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Piotr Moss (born 13 May 1949 in Bydgoszcz) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. Since 1981, he has lived in Paris and since 1984 has been a French citizen. In 2011, his concerto for clarinet d’ un silence… was recorded by Jean-Marc Fessard. See the Polish article to have a complete list of Moss’ compositions. Awards and recognition Piotr Moss received a number of main awards an various musical competitions in Poland, France, and elsewhere. He is also a recipient of the following major awards and decorations: *2000: Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters), France *2009: Special award from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary and 40 years of musical work *2016: Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters), France References External links * Piotr Moss on cdmc * Piotr Moss on France Musique * Piotr Moss on Cézame Music Agency * Piotr Moss on Music Me * Piotr Moss on YouTube

Piotr Rubik

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Piotr Andrzej Rubik ( Polish pronunciation : ; born 3 September 1968) is a Polish composer of symphonic pop music for orchestra, film and theatre as well as conductor, music producer and vocalist. He gained nationwide popularity in the mid-2000s with the success of his songs Niech mówią, że to nie jest miłość (2005) and Psalm dla Ciebie (2006). Biography Rubik was born 3 September 1968 in Warsaw. He learned to play the cello from the age of 7, went on to a musical secondary school, and then studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Later he became a member of the world-class orchestra Jeunesses Musicales. He studied film score composition in Siena, Italy, under Ennio Morricone. Piotr Rubik worked with various Polish artists and musicians, such as Edyta Górniak with “Dotyk”. He also did work on film tracks and television. His most popular songs have been Niech mówią że to nie jest miłość (Let them say it’s not love), Psalm dla Ciebie (Psalm for You), Most Dwojga Serc (Bridge of Two Hearts), Nie Wstydź się mówić że kochasz (Don’t be afraid to say that you love), and Miłość cierpliwa jest, lecz i nie cierpliwa (Love is patient, yet impatient). Rubik has also performed

Przemysław Gintrowski

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Przemysław Adam Gintrowski (21 December 1951 – 20 October 2012) was a Polish composer and musician. Gintrowski debuted in 1976 on a review of the Warsaw Riviera with the song “Epitaph for Sergei Yesenin”. Shortly afterwards, in 1979, he formed a trio with Jacek Kaczmarski and Zbigniew Łapiński, and initiated a poetic programme “Mury” (“Walls”). The title song of the programme, “Mury”, based on the song written by Catalan bard Lluis Llach L’Estaca – became an informal anthem of the Polish trade union Solidarity and the symbol of the fight against the regime. Other programs they created were “Raj” (Paradise) and “Museum”. With the declaration of martial law in December 1981 Trio broke up – Jacek Kaczmarski remained in exile in France, and Gintrowski started his own artistic activity. He made his debut as a composer of film music – during the next ten years he created music for over twenty fictional films and serials. Gintrowski’s songs were based on texts by Jacek Kaczmarski, Zbigniew Herbert, Tomasz Jastrun, Krzysztof Maria Sieniawski, Jerzy Czech, Tadeusz Nowak and Marek Tercz. For many years he did not record his own songs, although he still composed them for other artists and pre

Rafał Augustyn (composer)

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Rafał Augustyn (born 28 August 1951) is a Polish composer of classical music, pianist, music critic, writer and scholar of Polish philology. As a composer, he has written symphonies, chamber orchestra works, vocal and electronic music, as well as music for theatre. Since the mid-1990s, Augustyn has collaborated with visual artists, architects and photographers on numerous multimedia artworks. Education and career Augustyn was born on 28 August 1951 in Wrocław, Poland. He studied composition under Ryszard Bukowski at the State Higher School of Music in Wrocław between 1971 and 1974, and between 1975 and 1977 at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, where he studied under Henryk Górecki. In 1979, Augustyn began to teach at the Institute of Polish Philology at Wrocław University and has remained there since. His works have had numerous performances at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, as well as at other Polish festivals, and across Europe, North America and the Far East. As a music writer and critic, he has written for such journals and periodicals as Ruch Muzyczny and Odra. One of his major pieces, his “Symphony of Hymns”, took 20 years to complete, typically lasts for 100 minutes

Raoul Koczalski

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Raoul Armand Jerzy (von) Koczalski (3 January 1884 – 24 November 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. He also used the pseudonym Georg Armand(o) Koczalski. Biography Early years Born in Warsaw, Koczalski was taught first by his mother, then by Julian Gadomski (1888–1890). Having made his first public appearance in 1888 (aged 4), his parents took him to play for Anton Rubinstein, who foresaw the possibility of a performing career. He never studied at a conservatory but had further private lesson on the piano and in composition with Ludwig Marek (1891–1892), Karol Mikuli (1821–1897) (Chopin’s favorite Polish student and composer) and instrumentation with Henryk Jarecki (1893–1894). At the age of 7 he gave concerts, and at 9 he was playing in major European cities as a virtuoso. His thousandth concert was given in Leipzig in 1896, and by the age of 12 he had received awards such as the Order of the Lion and Sun (from the Shah of Persia), the title of Court Pianist (from the King of Spain), and a medal from the Turkish Sultan. Already as a child he had a very extensive repertoire. During World War I he was interned in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Iranian king Naser al-Din Shah Qajar descr

René Leibowitz

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René Leibowitz (; ; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish and French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of serialist composers. Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of Arnold Schoenberg, and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz’s former student, Pierre Boulez and others, the music of Schoenberg’s pupil Anton Webern was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers. Although his compositional ideas remained strictly serialist, as a conductor Leibowitz had broad sympathies, performing works by composers as diverse as Gluck, Beethoven, Brahms, Offenbach and Ravel, and his repertory extended to include pieces by Gershwin, Puccini, Sullivan and Johann Strauss. Life and career Early years The facts about Leibowitz’s early years are problematical, complicated by his practice of reinventing his history, but it is known that he was born in Warsaw. According to his pupil and translator, Jan Maguire, who wrote two stud

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati

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Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, born Roman Haubenstock (; 27 February 1919 – 3 March 1994) was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna. Life Haubenstock-Ramati was born in Tonie (a village near Krakow, to which it was incorporated only in 1941) as a son of Samuel (a farmer) and Regina née Gronner. He obtained his secondary school-leaving certificate at the Cracow 2nd State St. Jack Gymnasium in 1937. After that he studied composition, music theory, violin and philosophy there from 1934 to 1938, and in Lemberg from 1939 to 1941. Among his teachers were Artur Malawski and Józef Koffler. In 1939, his family fled from the Germans to Lviv, which was incorporated into the Soviet Union as a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Due to his multilingualism, he was arrested shortly before the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 on charges of espionage and deported to Tomsk via Odessa. There he was amnestied to join General Władysław Anders’ Polish Army and arrived in Palestine with the 2nd Polish Corps. He stayed there for several years and in 1943 he took the second part of his surname “Ramati” - from then on he appeared as Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. After his com

Roman Maciejewski

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Roman Maciejewski (28 February 1910 in Berlin, Germany – 30 April 1998 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was a Polish composer. His mother, Bronisława Maciejewska, was a talented violinist and music teacher who taught him to play piano. He studied in Stern Conservatory in Berlin, later with Stanisław Wiechowicz and Kazimierz Sikorski in Poznań Conservatory, then continued with Sikorski in Warsaw Conservatory. In his early years he was highly acclaimed by Karol Szymanowski. In 1934 he went to Paris, to study with Nadia Boulanger. He never returned to his native Poland, staying in various countries abroad: France (till 1938), United Kingdom (1938-1939), Sweden (1939-1951), United States (1951-1977) and again Sweden (1977–98). At first he composed inspired by Karol Szymanowski’s late style (mazurkas for piano, Kurpian Songs for choir). The tragedy of World War II, and also his very serious illness during his first stay in Sweden, caused a deep change in composer’s personality, that has greatly affected his music. Starting in 1939 Maciejewski began living in Sweden, working as a composer and pianist, where he married a Swedish dancer and remained for 12 years. During his American years, Maciejews

Roman Palester

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Roman Palester (28 December 1907 – 25 August 1989) was a Polish composer of classical music. Palester composed his most significant work during the 1960s and was the first Polish musician to be awarded the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize in 1964. His work was individual in style and not noticeably Polish in character. Palester was born in Śniatyń of Habsburg-controlled Galicia, in 1907. At the age of seven he started piano lessons and by age twelve was studying at the Music Institute in Kraków. In 1925, he began to study art history at Warsaw University. Palester graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory with a degree in music theory and composition in 1931, having studied under Kazimierz Sikorski. His first recognition came in 1932 when his “Psalm V for Baritone, Choir and Orchestra” was awarded first place in the Competition of the Singers’ Societies Association . Palester travelled extensively during his life and lived at different times in Warsaw, Paris, and Munich. In 1940, during the German occupation of Poland, he was briefly imprisoned in Warsaw’s Pawiak prison. Both before and just after the Second World War he composed film scores for a number of major Polish cinematic productions

Romuald Twardowski

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Romuald Twardowski (; 17 June 1930 – 13 January 2024) was a Polish composer, pianist, organist and academic teacher who studied in Vilnius, Warsaw and Paris. In a style described as “developed neoclassicism”, On a scholarship of the Polish Composers’ Union, he studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger in 1963 * 2000: Solo, Chamber and Vocal Works, AP0059 * 2001: Gaude Mater Festival – 3 – Polish Mass, AP0098 * 2001: Musica Polonica Nova – Warsaw Composers 1, AP0100 * 2002: Complete Works for Violin and Piano, AP0089 * 2003: Missa Regina caeli, AP0090 * 2004: Complete Piano Works, AP0066 * 2004: Musica Polonica Nova – Warsaw Composers 2, AP0108 * 2004: Concertos, AP0110 * 2005: Works for String Orchestra, AP0120 * 2006: Chamber Music, AP0140 * 2008: Complete Organ Works, AP0175 * 2008: Concertos, AP0179 * 2008: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Roman Puchko (tenor, priest), Petro Hrekov (bass, deacon), Chamber Choir “Kyiv”, conducted by Mykola Hobdych, AP0193 * 2009: Exegi monumentum, AP0231 * 2011: Universitas Cantat 1998–2011, AP0295-99 * 2017: Luctus (Żałość), AP0378 * 2017: Violin Concerto, Kinga Augustyn (violin), Toruń Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mariusz Smolij, Naxos * 2019: S

Stanislav Lyudkevych

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Stanislav Pylypovych Lyudkevych (, , ; 24 January 1879 – 10 September 1979 ) was a Ukrainian and Soviet composer, theorist, teacher and musical activist. He was a People’s Artist of the USSR (1969) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1979). Biography Lyudkevych was born in 1879 in Jarosław, Austria-Hungary (now Poland). From 1897 to 1901 Lyudkevych studied philosophy at Lviv University. During this time he also studied on his own at the Conservatory of Galician Music Society in Lviv under Mieczysław Sołtys. Starting in 1901, Lyudkevych worked as a teacher in Lviv and Przemyśl. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in musicology in Vienna in 1908, learning from O. Tsemlinsky and H. Hredener. and from 1919, teacher of theoretical disciplines and inspector of legal entities. He worked with the choirs Boyan, Bandurist, Surma. In 1936, Lyudkevych became head of the musicological commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. From 1939 until 1972, he was a professor in the institute named after Mykola Lysenko. He died on September 10, 1979, in Lviv, aged 100. * 1949 – Order of the Red Banner of Labour * Lviv Art College is named after S. Ludkevych as well as streets in Lviv, Stryi, Pustomyty and

Stanisław Wiechowicz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stanisław Wiechowicz (; 27 November 1893 – 12 May 1963) was a Polish composer, music conductor, music educator and music critic. Biography Stanisław Wiechowicz was born in Kroszyce, near Kielce, Poland. He studied organ at the Conservatory of Music in Kraków and composition at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze near Dresden. He continued his studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, but his education was interrupted by military service. After demobilization, he worked from 1921 to 1939 as a music teacher and choral conductor in Poznań. From 1926 to 1927 he continued his musical studies at Schola Cantorum in Paris. From 1920 to 1926 and from 1930 to 1939, he was a professor at the Conservatory in Poznań. After 1945, Wiechowicz held the Composition Chair at the State Higher School of Music (now the Academy of Music) in Kraków. Wiechowicz authored a number of works on vocal pedagogy, and wrote for publications including Przegląd Muzyczny and Muzyka Polska. He received a number of composition prizes, and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 1952. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Wiechowicz married Valenti

Stefan Bolesław Poradowski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stefan Bolesław Poradowski (16 August 1902 – 9 July 1967) was a Polish composer. Life Poradowski was born on 16 August 1902 in Włocławek. He received his musical education in Włocławek at P. Bojakowskiego, then at the Conservatory of Music in Bydgoszcz Winterfeld. From 1922 to 1926 he studied in Poznań at the National Conservatory of Music where he studied composition and theory (Henryk Opieński) and the University (the right and musicology). Complementary studies in composition took place in Berlin with Emil Reznicek. He worked as a teacher of violin playing and lecturing on theoretical subjects in Poznań and Leszno, and in 1930 he became professor of theory and composition, as well as a special chamber orchestra director in the Poznań Conservatory. Before the war, he also lectured at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Bydgoszcz (1935–1939), conducted the chamber orchestra and choir of the Society of Music “Harmony” in Poznań (1930–1939) and operated recenzencką. In 1939, he was arrested by the Germans and then taken to Opatów, Poland, where he worked as an organist and choral conductor. In 1945, he again taught a special class of theory and composition at the State Music Acad

Szymon Kataszek

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Szymon Kataszek (1898–1943) (born Boruch Szymon Kataszek), was a Polish-Jewish composer, bandleader, pianist, a pioneer of Polish jazz. Born in Warsaw 1898; studied piano at the Warsaw Music Institute and Rome’s St. Cecilia Academy. He returned to Poland and first worked as an organist in St. Trinity Church, while also playing piano in nightclubs. Life and work In 1920 he joined the Polish Army and fought in the Polish-Bolshevik War. In 1921 he played in dance orchestras in Gdańsk and Berlin, then returned to Warsaw and established a jazz quintet with his friend Zygmunt Karasiński; they played at the nightclub Oaza. In 1924 the Krasiński & Kataszek Band recorded for Syrena and toured. Kataszek composed dozens of Polish foxtrots, black-bottoms, shimmies, and Charlestons often performed at the small night spots of Warsaw: Qui Pro Quo, Perskie Oko, and Rex - they included A ile mi dasz? (What Can I Get From You?), To Zula W futerko się otula (Here’s Zula, Wrapped In Furs) written for the Charleston pioneer and Qui Pro Quo singer, Zula Pogorzelska, and Abram, ja ci zagram! (I’ll Play It For You, Abram!). His tango Czemuś o mnie zapomniał? (Why Have You Forgotten Me?) received the 1932

Tadeusz Baird

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tadeusz Baird (26 July 19282 September 1981) was a Polish composer. Biography Baird was born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, in Poland. His father Edward was Polish, while his mother Maria (née Popov) was Russian. In 1944 at the age of 16 he was deported to Germany as a forced labourer, and after a failed escape attempt was imprisoned in a concentration camp. After liberation by the Americans he spent six months recovering at the military hospital in Zweckel before returning to Poland. Between 1947 and 1951 Baird studied composition and musicology in Warsaw under Piotr Rytek and Kazimierz Sikorski, and piano with Tadeusz Wituski. In 1949 he founded Group 49 along with Kazimierz Serocki and Jan Krenz. The aim of Group 49 was to write communicative and expressive music according to socialist realism, the dominant ideology in the Eastern Bloc at the time. After Stalin’s death in 1953 he increasingly turned to serialism. In 1956, along with Kazimierz Serocki, he founded the Warsaw Autumn international contemporary music festival. In 1974 he began to teach composition at the National College of Music (currently the Music Academy) in Warsaw. In 1977, now a full professor, he was offered a post t

Tadeusz Szeligowski

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Tadeusz Szeligowski (13 September 1896 – 10 January 1963) was a Polish composer, educator, lawyer and music organizer. His works include the operas The Rise of the Scholars, Krakatuk and Theodor Gentlemen, the ballets The Peacock and the Girl and Mazepa ballets, two violin concertos, chamber and choral works. As a music teacher, Szeligowski was very well established in Vilnius, Lublin, Poznań and Warsaw. He was also a respected music writer who frequently wrote for journals and magazines specialized in music such as the Kurier Wileński, Tygodnik Wileński, Muzyka and the Kurier Poznański. His achievements include the creation of the Poznan´ Philharmonic, where he served as its first director between the years 1947–1949, and the founding of the Poznań Musical Spring, one of the most important festivals of contemporary music at the time. Life and work Musical education Tadeusz Szeligowski was born on 13 September 1896 in Lemberg, then in Austro-Hungarian Galicia and now in western Ukraine. Szeligowski’s first music and piano teacher was his mother. Later he began studying music at the Conservatory of Music of the Polish Society in L’vov in the years 1910–1914, where he studied piano u

Tadeusz Wojciech Maklakiewicz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tadeusz Wojciech Maklakiewicz (20 October 1922, Mszczonów – 24 March 1996, Warsaw) was a Polish composer, music educator, activist and jurist. Maklakiewicz came from a family of musical traditions, being his brothers John and Francis composers. He studied law at the Jagiellonian University between 1945 and 1949, and then musical composition under the direction of Tadeusz Szeligowski at the National Academy of Music in Warsaw between 1954 and 1958. He worked at the State Music Publishing House in Kraków, in the Office Live ARTOS, at the Central Clinic Amateur Artistic Movements (CPARA) in the 1950s, and in the 1960s at the Polish Radio in Warsaw. He was chairman of the jury of the Soldier Song Festival in Kolobrzeg, juror of the International Song Festival in Sopot and the Soviet Song Festival in Zielona Gora. His compositional output includes works for vocal voices and for choir. He is the author of the “Highland Mass” and the “Kurpie Suite” performed by most Polish choirs. He also worked on arrangements of patriotic songs and carols for vocal ensembles. He is buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw (klin-4-5). References

Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska

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Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska, also known as Tekla Bądarzewska ( Polish pronunciation : ; 1829/1834 – 29 September 1861) was a Polish composer and pianist. She composed mainly for the piano and is internationally known for her composition A Maiden’s Prayer. Life and death Bądarzewska was born in 1829 in Mława or 1834 in Warsaw to Andrzej Bądarzewski and Tekla Bądarzewska (Chrzanowska). Andrzej Bądarzewski was a successful police commissioner, and moved his family to Warsaw in 1835. Tekla married Jan Baranowski and they had five children in their nine years of marriage. Bądarzewska-Baranowska died on 29 September 1861 in Warsaw. One of her daughters, Bronisława, was enrolled at the Warsaw Institute of Music in 1875. Early works and marriage At age 14, Bądarzewska composed and published her first piece, Vals Pour le Pianoforte, dedicated to Anna Makiewicz, the benefactress of a local orphanage. This piece was published by Franciszek Henryk Spiess, an important bookseller at the time. Four years after the publication of her Vals, Bądarzewska married Jan Baranowski, an army captain. In 1857, the Czarist authorities gave Baranowski the Order of St. Stanislaus (Russian Empire) third class

Theodor Leschetizky

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky; ; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915) was a Polish pianist, professor, and composer active in Austria-Hungary. He was born in Łańcut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land of the Habsburg domain. A well-regarded teacher, his many students included Ignaz Friedman, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and Artur Schnabel. Life Theodor Leschetizky was born on 22 June 1830 at the estate of the family of Count Potocki in Łańcut, in what was then Austrian Galicia and is now southeastern Poland. Joseph Leschetizky, his father, was a gifted pianist and music teacher of Viennese birth and Czech origin. His mother Teresa Ullmann was a Polish gifted singer of German origin. His father gave him his first piano lessons and then took him to Vienna to study with Carl Czerny. At age eleven, he performed a Czerny piano concerto in Landshut, with Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, the son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, conducting. At the age of fifteen he started to tutor his first students. By the age of eighteen he was a well-known virtuoso in Vienna and beyond. His composition teacher was Simon Sechter, an eminent professor who was the teacher of many

Tomasz Golka

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Tomasz Golka (born 1975) is a Polish-American conductor, composer and violinist. Golka is the son of pianist Anna Karczewska-Golka and trombonist George Golka. He is the great-grandson of Max Stern. His younger brother Adam Golka is a pianist. Career Golka was born in 1975 in Warsaw, in Poland. His family emigrated to Mexico when he was young. He completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and became an American citizen in 1996. He studied conducting under David Effron at Indiana University and later under Markand Thakar and Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. In 2003, Golka won first prize at the Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition in Mexico City. From 2003-04, Golka was a visiting professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and served as a conductor for the Ball State Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, Golka was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. His work at Tanglewood included conducting a performance of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale with composers Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, and John Harbison as narrators. From 2007

Tomasz Lipiński

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tomasz “Frantz” Lipinski is a Polish rock guitarist, lyricist, composer and singer. Born on 21 August 1955 in Warsaw, Lipinski is the founder of Tilt, one of the first punk rock bands in Poland, and co-founder of Brygada Kryzys, regarded as an influential rock band in Poland. Furthermore, he was a member of the bands Fotoness and Izrael. He is the son of the satirist and caricaturist Eryk Lipinski, but was raised by his mother, for the first time meeting his father at the age of eight. In 1975, Lipinski graduated from high school, and continued his education at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 1979, Lipinski founded Tilt, one of the first punk rock bands in Poland. In the summer of 1981, together with Robert Brylewski, Lipinski founded Brygada Kryzys, an influential new wave group in Poland. After the dissolution of Brygada Kryzys, Lipinski shortly joined Izrael, later re-creating Tilt. In the 1990s, he wrote a column for the “Tylko Rock” music magazine, worked for BMG Poland, was editor in chief of the “Aktivist” magazine, wrote music for several films, and acted in some movies. Lipinski is a Buddhist, and has two daughters. In 2011, he was awarded The Order of Polonia Restituta

Tomasz Sikorski

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Tomasz Sikorski (19 May 1939 – 12 November 1988) was a Polish composer and pianist. The son of the composer Kazimierz Sikorski, he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Zbigniew Drzewiecki. Later, thanks to a scholarship from the French government, he studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. From 1975–76, as a recipient of a Senior-Fulbright Scholarship from the US government, he worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City. His works He is the main so-called “Polish minimalist” (the other: Zygmunt Krauze). In addition to piano works and radio opera, Sikorski composed numerous instrumental works, among them: * Sequenza I for Symphony Orchestra (1966) * Homophony for 4 Trumpets, 4 Horns, 4 Trombones, Piano and Gong (1970) * Holzwege (1972) * Vox humana for Mixed Choir, 2 Solo Pianos, 12 Brass Instruments, 4 Gongs and 4 Tam-tams (1971) * Other voices for 24 Wind Instruments, 4 Gongs and Chimes, (1975) * Sickness unto Death (Choroba na śmierć) (1976). The words are taken from Søren Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death, 1849 * Music in Twilight for Piano and Orchestra (1978) * Strings in the Earth (1980) * Das Schweigen der Sirenen (1986) * Diario (1987) I

Tomasz Stańko

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Tomasz Ludwik Stańko (; 11 July 1942 – 29 July 2018) was a Polish trumpeter and composer associated with free jazz and the avant-garde. In 1962, Tomasz Stańko formed his first band, the Jazz Darings, with saxophonist Janusz Muniak, pianist Adam Makowicz, bassist Jacek Ostaszewski, drummer Wiktor Perelmuter. Inspired by Ornette Coleman and the innovations of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and George Russell, the group is often cited by music historians as the first European group to play free jazz. In his later years, he collaborated with pianist Krzysztof Komeda on Komeda’s album Astigmatic, recorded in late 1965. In 1968, Stańko formed a quintet whose members were Janusz Muniak (tenor and soprano saxophones, flute), Zbigniew Seifert (alto sax and violin), Bronisław Suchanek (bass), Janusz Stefański (drums, percussion). In 1975, he formed the Tomasz Stańko-Adam Makowicz Unit. Stańko established a reputation as a leading figure not only in Polish jazz, but internationally as well, working with musicians including Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Reggie Workman, Rufus Reid, Lester Bowie, David Murray, Manu Katché and Chico Freeman. From 1984, he was a member of Cecil Taylor’s big band. Bio

Wanda Warska

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Wanda Małolepsza (28 April 1930 – 6 July 2019), known professionally as Wanda Warska, was a Polish jazz singer and composer who worked with her husband Andrzej Kurylewicz and was nicknamed the “First Lady of Polish Jazz”. Biography Early life and career Wanda Warska was born Wanda Małolepsza on 28 April 1930 in Poznań, Poznań Voivodeship, Poland. After singing at the at the age of five, Warska studied piano as a young child and was educated at a music and ballet school and in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw. She and her husband Andrzej Kurylewicz started working together in the 1950s, performing for the latter’s bands for her first recording, the 1956 Sopot Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Jamboree, and serving as his repertoire’s primary performer. She was the vocalist of Kurylewicz’s Organ Sextet, and her 1971 album Muzyka teatralna i telewizyjna was a collaboration with him and Czesław Niemen. She also received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2011, Warska was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis for “her contribution to Polish culture”. Polskie Radio described her 2016 album Domowe piosenki,

Wiktor Łabuński

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Wiktor Łabuński (April 4, 1895 – January 26, 1974), was a Polish-American pianist, conductor and composer. He came to the United States in 1928, where he made his debut as a pianist at Carnegie Hall. He was head of the piano department of Kraków Conservatory of Music in Krakow, Poland; he taught at the Nashville Conservatory of Music; he was a professor and director at the Memphis College of Music; and was the director of the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he eventually retired from. Well known for his lecture-recitals, he had a repertory of more than 1500 works. His own compositions are in a conventional style. Further reading ;Articles written by Lubonski * * External links *Łabuński talks about his relationship with Ignacy Jan Paderewski *Remembering Wiktor Łabuński at Polish Music Center Newsletter

Witold Friemann

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Witold Friemann (20 August 1889 in Konin – 22 March 1977 in Laski) was a Polish composer, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was very prolific and composed more than 350 Opuses, most of which remain inedited. Compositions Stage * Giewont, musical drama (dramat muzyczny; libretto by Kazimierz Brończyk; 1927–1929, 1934) * Kain, opera (1952) * Kasia, baśń operowa (1955) * Bazyliszek (legenda warszawska), vaudeville (1958) Vocal * Psalm VIII for soloists, chorus and orchestra, text by Jan Kochanowski (1910) * Psalm XXX for soloists, chorus and orchestra, text by Jan Kochanowski (1921) * Psalm XC for chorus, text by Jan Kochanowski (1922) * Suita podhalańska for baryton solo and string orchestra (1946/1950) * Polskie misterium ludowe for soloists, mixed chorus and piano, text by Maria Konopnicka (1946) * 4 suity mazowieckie for soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra (1948–51) * Spod Warszawy for soloist, mixed chorus and orchestra (1949) * Cień Chopina for baryton, piano and orchestra, text by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1949) * Rapsod mazowiecki for soloist, mixed chorus and orchestra (1950) * Pacem in terris (pro memoria Joannes XXIII, Op.253, for mixed chorus and orchestra (1963) * C

Witold Lutoslawski

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Early years (1913–1938)#

Witold Roman Lutosławski was born on 25 January 1913, in Warsaw, Poland. His parents were both born into the Polish landed nobility; they owned estates in the area of Drozdowo. His father Józef was involved in the Polish National Democratic Party (“Endecja”), and the Lutosławski family became intimate with its founder, Roman Dmowski (Witold Lutosławski’s middle name was Roman). Józef Lutosławski studied in Zürich, where in 1904 he met and married a fellow student, Maria Olszewska, who later became Lutosławski’s mother. Józef pursued his studies in London, where he acted as correspondent for the National-Democratic newspaper, Goniec. He continued to be involved in National Democracy politics after returning to Warsaw in 1905, and took over the management of the family estates in 1908. Witold Roman Lutosławski, the youngest of three brothers, was born in Warsaw shortly before the outbreak of World War I. In 1915, with Russia at war with Germany, Prussian forces drove towards Warsaw. The Lutosławskis travelled east to Moscow, where Józef remained politically active, organising Polish Legions ready for any action that might liberate Poland (which had been divided over a century earlier—Warsaw was part of Tsarist Russia). Dmowski’s strategy was for Russia to guarantee security for a new Polish state. In 1917, the February Revolution forced the Tsar to abdicate, and the October Revolution started a new Soviet government that made peace with Germany. Józef’s activities were now in conflict with the Bolsheviks, who arrested him and his brother Marian. Thus, although fighting stopped on the Eastern Front in 1917, the Lutosławskis were prevented from returning home. The brothers were interned in Butyrskaya prison in central Moscow, where Witold—by then aged five—visited his father. Józef and Marian were executed by a firing squad in September 1918, some days before their scheduled trial. After the war, the family returned to the newly independent Poland, only to find their estates ruined. After his father’s death, other members of the family played an important part in Witold’s early life, especially Józef’s half-brother Kazimierz Lutosławski, a priest and politician. At age six, Lutosławski started two years of piano lessons in Warsaw. After the Polish-Soviet War the family left Warsaw to return to Drozdowo, but after a few years of running the estates with limited success, his mother returned to Warsaw. She worked as a physician, and translated books for children from English. In 1931, he enrolled at Warsaw University to study mathematics, and in 1932 he formally joined the composition classes at the Conservatory. His only composition teacher was Witold Maliszewski, a renowned Polish composer who had been a pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Lutosławski was given a strong grounding in musical structures, particularly movements in sonata form. In 1932, he gave up the violin, and in 1933 he discontinued his mathematics studies to concentrate on the piano and composition. As a student of Jerzy Lefeld, he gained a diploma for piano performance from the Conservatory in 1936, after presenting a virtuoso program including Schumann’s Toccata and Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto. His diploma for composition was awarded by the same institution in 1937.

Witold Szalonek

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Witold Szalonek (born in 1927 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died in 2001 in Berlin) was a Polish composer. In 1949-56 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. Following his first successes at international composers’ competitions, he received a grant from Kranichsteiner Musikinstitut in Darmstadt (1960). In 1962-63 he continued his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1967 he began to teach composition at the Katowice School and in 1970-74 was in charge of the Department of Composition and Theory. In the early 1970s he was invited by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst to work as artist in residence at West Berlin’s Hochschule der Künste. In 1973 he won the competition to succeed Boris Blacher as Professor of Composition there. He has conducted numerous seminars and courses in composition in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Finland and Slovakia. In 1990 he received an honorary doctor’s degree from the Wilhelmian University in Münster. In 1963 Szalonek discovered and classified the so-called ‘combined sounds’ generated by the woodwind instruments. He is also the author of theoretical studies on a wide range of subjects, including combined sounds, sonorism, Chopin

Władysław Daniłowski

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Władysław Daniłowski (also known by his pseudonyms Władysław Dan and Walter Dana, April 26, 1902 – March 4, 2000) was a Polish and American pianist, composer and singer. A pioneer of jazz and tango in Poland, in the United States he is best known as a promoter of polka music. He wrote the score for the first Polish sound film. Life and career Born April 26, 1902, in Warsaw, then in the Russian-held Congress Poland, to a renowned Polish writer and revolutionary . In 1919 he joined the Polish Army and served with distinction during the Polish-Bolshevist War. Following demobilisation he started studies at the Warsaw Conservatory. He studied piano under tutelage of Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński and theory of music in the class of Piotr Rytel. In 1926 he also graduated from the law faculty of the University of Warsaw. In late 1920s Daniłowski spent two years working for the Polish embassy in Paris, where he fell in love with jazz and tango, two styles of music gaining increasing popularity in Europe at that time. Upon his return to Poland he started composing for the cabaret. Numerous songs written for the star of the cabaret, Hanka Ordonówna, gained him much fame in Warsaw and then in the

Władysław Szpilman

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Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish Jewish pianist, classical composer and Holocaust survivor. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the Roman Polanski film The Pianist, which was based on his autobiographical account of how he survived the German occupation of Warsaw and the Warsaw Uprising. Szpilman studied piano at music academies in Berlin and Warsaw. He became a popular performer on Polish Radio and in concert. Confined within the Warsaw Ghetto after the German invasion of Poland, Szpilman spent two years in hiding. Following the Warsaw Uprising and the subsequent destruction of the city, he was helped by Wilm Hosenfeld, a German officer who detested Nazi policies. After World War II, Szpilman resumed his career on Polish Radio. Szpilman was also a prolific composer; his output included hundreds of songs and many orchestral pieces. Szpilman was also recognized as the most famous of the “Robinson Crusoes”, a term referring to Poles who survived in the ruins of Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising. Career as a pianist Szpilman began his study of the piano at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland, where he studied piano with Aleksande

Władysław Żeleński (composer)

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Władysław Marcjan Mikołaj Żeleński (6 July 1837 – 23 January 1921) was a Polish composer, pianist and organist. Life Żeleński was born in Grodkowice into a landowner family. When he was eight, his father was killed and his mother critically injured in the rabacja, the Galician peasants’ uprising of 1846. He was a representative of neoromanticism in Polish music. From early on, Żeleński showed interest in chamber music. While in secondary school, he wrote two quartets and a trio that, however, have not survived to our times. Later chamber pieces include: Sextet in C major, Op. 9 and Wariacje na temat własny (Variations on an Original Theme) for string quartet, Op. 21. Żeleński composed while studying first in Prague and later in Paris. He died in Kraków. Władysław was the father of physician and writer Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński. His students included Polish composer and pianist Jadwiga Sarnecka. Notable works Operas * Konrad Wallenrod (1885) * Goplana (1896) * Janek (1900) * Stara baśń (opera) (1907) libretto by Aleksander Bandrowski based on Stara baśń Symphonic compositions * W Tatrach (In the Tatra Mountains), overture, Op. 27 (1870) * Echa leśne (Forest Echos), overture * Suita tańcó

Włodzimierz Korcz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Włodzimierz Korcz (born 13 November 1943 in Łódź) is a Polish composer, pianist, music producer and author of many popular songs. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Łódź and debuted in 1965. In 1968–1970 Korcz worked as music editor for Polskie Radio in Łódź. In 1974–1977 he was the music director at Teatr na Targówku in Warsaw. Korcz composes film and theatre music, and performs at radio and TV concerts. He was a co-producer of shows such as Mazurskie Biesiady Kabaretowe (Masurian Cabaret Feasts) and Lidzbarskie Wieczory Humoru i Satyry (Lidzbark’s Satirical Evenings). He received recognition at many festivals in Poland and abroad, including: at the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, as well as the Rostock, Vitebsk and Bratislava music festivals. He also worked with several literary cabarets across Poland: such as Pod Egidą, Kabaret TEY, Kabaret Olgi Lipińskiej, as well as the TV-made Polskie Zoo, Kraj się śmieje and others. an informal anthem of the Solidarity period in the People’s Republic of Poland. It was an emblem of the political opposition to the totalitarian regime from the June 1976 protests against the Soviet-style communism imposed in Poland, all the way

Włodzimierz Kotoński

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Włodzimierz Kotoński (23 August 1925 – 4 September 2014) was a Polish composer. Biography Born in Warsaw, Kotoński studied there with Piotr Rytel and Tadeusz Szeligowski at the PWSM, graduating in 1951. In an initial period of activity he took an interest in folk music from the Podhale region in southern Poland. After attending the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1957–61, he adopted punctual serialism in works like Sześć miniatur (‘Six Miniatures’) for clarinet and piano of 1957 and Muzyka kameralna (‘Chamber Music’) for 21 instruments and percussion in the following year. This trend culminated in 1959 in Musique en relief for six orchestral groups. His Etiuda na jedno uderzenie w talerz (‘Study on One Cymbal Stroke’) was the first Polish piece of electronic music, created at Polish Radio’s Experimental Studio. He also worked in various electronic music studios abroad, amongst others in Cologne, Paris, Freiburg, and Berlin. In 1967 he was appointed lecturer in composition at the Frédéric Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he also directed the electronic music studio. Notably, he wrote the first book in Polish on the field of electronic / electroacoustic music. In the years 1974–1976

Wojciech Grzymała

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Wojciech Grzymała (23 April 1793 – 16 December 1871), also known as Albert Grzymala or Albert Grzymała, was a Polish soldier, politician, and banker who was a close associate in Paris of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Grzymała was born in Dunajowce (now Dunaivtsi, Ukraine). He began attending military school in 1807, and took part in the Battle of Borodino (1812), for which he received the medal Virtuti Militari. A freemason, and active in Polish politics during the 1820s, he was a principal orator at the funeral of Stanisław Staszic (1826). In 1828-1829, he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg for his association with the . As a director of the Bank Polski, he negotiated in London and Paris for financial and other support for Poland after the 1830 November Uprising. Grzymała remained in Paris and became a society figure. He often acted as Chopin’s adviser and “gradually began to fill the role of elder brother in his life.” He was a frequent correspondent of both Chopin and of George Sand; Sand, in a letter to Grzymała of June 1838, admitted her strong feelings for the composer and debated whether to abandon a current affair in order to begin a relation

Wojciech Trzciński

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wojciech Stanisław Trzciński (22 July 1949 – 1 February 2025) was a Polish composer, arranger, pianist, guitarist, conductor and music producer. Trzciński was a graduate of the Stephen Báthory 2nd High School (Warsaw) and the University of Warsaw. Author of music for films, television programs, theater performances, and composer of songs for many Polish performers. Artistic director of festivals in Opole and Sopot. One of the originators of the Polish Phonographic Industry Award Fryderyk. Founder of a private, independent art center Fabryka Trzciny for whose creation he received the Paszport Polityki and the Kisiel Prize. Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Hanna-Barbera Poland (1987–93), founder and editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Video Świat Hanna-Barbera (1990–92). Life and career Trzciński made his debut in 1969 at the Student Song Fair in the Medyk club in Warsaw as a singer and composer. Initially, he composed songs for student performers such as Natasza Czarmińska, Piotr Fronczewski, Andrzej Nardelli and Magda Umer. Later he started writing for Radio Song Studio and Television Giełda Piosenki, among others for artists such as: Halina Frąckowiak, Edyta Geppert

Wojtek Urbański

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Wojciech Urbański (born October 4, 1986, in Warsaw) is a composer, music producer, and arranger. He won a Fryderyk Award in 2022 for the album “4GET” by the band Rysy. He is also a recipient of the Polish Soundtrack of the Year award at the 2022 Film Music Festival for his score to the film “Operation Hyacinth” (“Hiacynt”). He has served as the musical director for numerous events, including the Empik Bestsellers Gala 2021, the concert “Together with Ukraine”, and the TVP Independence concert “Polska na TAK!”. Together with the group Dyspensa, he was responsible for the music production of Quebonafide’s concert “Act II The Final Concert” at the National Stadium. He also composed music for the Silesian exhibition at the Polish Pavilion at EXPO in Dubai. A film composer who regularly collaborates with Netflix, he has produced and arranged tracks such as “Ostatni – Rojst97” and “Oczko w głowie” by Tymek, as well as “Zabierz tę Miłość” by Julia Wieniawa and Maciej Musiałowski. He produced the albums “Mogło być nic” by Kwiat Jabłoni and “Odrodzenie” by Tymek. He achieved his first international success in 2025 when he officially announced a collaboration with French influencer and piani

Zbigniew Bargielski

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Zbigniew Bargielski (born 21 January 1937) is a Polish composer and teacher. His works have been performed in many European countries, the United States, Australia and South America. On 24 February 2011 he was awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski with the Medal for Merit to Culture. Life and career Zbigniew Bargielski was born on 21 January 1937 in Łomża. He studied law at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. In 1958 he began studying composition at the State Academy of Music in Warsaw under the guidance of eminent professor Tadeusz Szeligowski, and after his death, he continued with Boleslaw Szabelski in the State Music Academy in Katowice. In the years 1966-1967 he complemented his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and in 1972 at the Hochschule für Musik in Graz. In 1976 he moved to Austria where he studied at music school in Bruck an der Mur. Since 2002 he teaches composition at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, and since 2003 also in Kraków. References

Zbigniew Preisner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zbigniew Preisner (; born 20 May 1955 as Zbigniew Antoni Kowalski) is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski. He is the recipient of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis as well as the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He is a member of the French Film Academy. Life Zbigniew Preisner was born in Bielsko-Biała, southern Poland, and studied history and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Never having received formal music lessons, he taught himself music by listening and transcribing parts from records. His compositional style represents a distinctively sparse form of tonal neo-Romanticism. Paganini and Jean Sibelius are acknowledged influences. After working with Kieślowski on Three Colours: Blue, Preisner was hired by the producer Francis Ford Coppola to write the score for The Secret Garden, directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland. Although Preisner is most closely associated with Kieślowski, he has collaborated with several other directors, winning a César in 1996 for his work on Jean Becker’s Élisa. He has won a number of other awards, including another César in 1994 for T

Zygmunt Krauze

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Zygmunt Krauze (born September 19, 1938) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music, educator, and pianist. Biography Zygmunt Krauze is an important artist of his generation: a respected composer, valued pianist, educator, organiser of musical events and a judge in many international competitions. His artistic achievements and efforts in the promotion of music have been recognised with many awards and distinctions, including the French National Order of the Legion of Honour (2007) and the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1984). In 1987 he was appointed President of the International Society for Contemporary Music and has been an honorary member of the organization since 1999. In 2011, Krauze became an honorary member of the Polish Composers’ Union and a year later he was awarded the title of Coryphaeus of Polish Music in the category of Personality of the Year. Composer Krauze’s compositions include ten operas: “The Star” (1981), “Balthazar” (2001), “Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy” (2004), “Polyeucte” (2010), “The Trap” (2011) and “Olympia of Gdansk” (2015), “Yemaya - Queen of the Seas” (2019), “Night of the Ravens” (2022), “The Marriage” (2024) and “Bona Sfo

Zygmunt Mycielski

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Count Zygmunt Mycielski (17 August 1907 – 5 August 1987) was a Polish composer and music critic. Life and career He was born in Przeworsk and completed his childhood education in Kraków, where he was taught by Bernardino Rizzi. In 1928, Mycielski moved to Paris, where he studied composition at École Normale de Musique with Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, as probably the latter’s first Polish student. While there, he served as president of the Association of Young Polish Musicians in Paris from 1934 to 1936. In 1936, he moved back to Poland and began his music and writing career. Mycielski served in the Polish military during World War II and became a prisoner of war after being captured by the German Army. For the rest of the war, he did compulsory work for a German farmer. After the war ended, he returned to Poland and served two terms as editor for Ruch Muzyczny (1946–1948 and 1957–1959) before becoming editor-in-chief from 1960 to 1968. His political views clashed with communist Polish authorities, however. His publications caused him to be ousted as editor-in-chief of Ruch Muzyczny; his writings were then subject to strict censorship and he was forbidden to leave the country. M

Zygmunt Stojowski

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Zygmunt Denis Antoni Jordan de Stojowski (May 4, 1870 – November 5, 1946) was a Polish pianist and composer. Life He was born on May 4, 1870, near the city of Kielce. Stojowski began his musical training with his mother, and with Polish composer Władysław Żeleński. In Kraków, as a seventeen-year-old student, he made his debut as a concert pianist performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the local orchestra. At the age of eighteen he moved to Paris and studied piano with Louis Diémer and composition with Léo Delibes. Two years later at the Paris Conservatoire, he would win first prizes in piano performance, counterpoint and fugue. According to Stojowski, however, in a December 1901 interview that appeared in a Warsaw magazine, the teachers who had the most profound influence on him as a musician were the Polish violinist-composer Wladyslaw Gorski and pianist-composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Stojowski’s music was found worthy enough to be included in the first concert of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, on 5 November 1901. His Symphony in D minor, Op. 21, which was featured in that first concert conducted by Emil Młynarski, had won first prize (1000 rubles) in a Paderewski Musi