Head of Orchestra - Polska Orkiestra Sinfonia Iuventus

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Head of Orchestra
  • The Artistic Council
    • photo: Juliusz Multarzyński
      Prof. Antoni Wit

      Honorary Conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic. In the years 2013–2018, Antoni Wit was Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in Pamplona. Previously, he was also director of such ensembles as the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz (1974–1977), the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Choir in Krakow (1977–1983), the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (1983–2000), and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (1987–1992).

      Between 2002 and 2013, he was General and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic. Wykonawcy / Performers 17 Antoni Wit studied conducting with Henryk Czyż and composing with Krzysztof Penderecki at the State Higher School of Music in Krakow, he also graduated in Law from the Jagiellonian University. He began his professional career as an assistant to Witold Rowicki at the Warsaw Philharmonic. After receiving Second Prize in the International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin in 1971, he became assistant to the patron of the competition.

      He has performed in almost all the great musical centres of Europe, Asia, Australia and both Americas. In recent seasons, he has conducted La Scala Orchestra in Milan, the BBC Symphony Orchestra (London), Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid, Berner Symphonieorchester, China Philharmonic Orchestra (Beijing), Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony (Denver), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra at Teatro Colón, Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (at the Montreux festival), as well as orchestras in Lyon, Liège, Brussels, São Paulo, Bilbao, Barcelona and Sevilla.

      Recordings of his performances have been included on over 200 albums, which have won numerous awards, among them a 2013 Grammy Award and six other nominations for this prize, Diapason d’Or and Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque, Cannes Classical Award, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and four Fryderyk Awards from the Polish Phonographic Academy. The recordings feature music by Polish most outstanding composers, as well as works from a more international repertoire – including critically acclaimed interpretations of pieces by Smetana, Dvořák, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler and R. Strauss. Antoni Wit is one of only a few artists in the world whose albums have sold almost six million copies.

      He was professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. His students were, among others, Krzysztof Urbański, Michał Dworzyński, Rafał Janiak, Maja Metelska, and Dawid Runtz. He has the title of honorary professor at the FCUM and Keimyung University (South Korea). Among his PhD students, apart from the above-mentioned graduates, there are also Łukasz Borowicz, Jakub Chrenowicz, and Wojciech Rodek.

    • fot. Mikołaj Grynberg
      Prof. Konstanty Andrzej Kulka

      He was born in Gdańsk. His father was a singer in the choir of the Baltic Opera, and his mother was a pianist-tutor for soloists in that theater.

      He began learning to play the violin at the age of eight with Ludwik Gbiorczyk, being a student of the 3rd grade of Primary School no. 14 in Gdańsk, in Siedlce. He performed for the first time in public, at the age of 12 – on November 15, 1959 in a music high school in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz, with a concert – recital, during which he performed works by Mozart, Młynarski, and Corelli. The proceeds from this recital were used to build 1,000 schools.

      He continued his education at the State Secondary Music School with one of the most outstanding Polish violin teachers, Stefan Herman, and then studied in his class at the State Higher School of Music in Gdańsk.

      As a 17-year-old student, he performed for the first time with a symphony orchestra and received a diploma with special distinction at the International Violin Competition. Niccolò Paganini in Genoa.

      The turning point of his career was his victory in 1966 at the International German Radio Competition ARD in Munich. He has performed in both hemispheres (all European countries, USA, South America, Japan, Australia). From 1968 he performed in a duet with Jerzy Marchwiński and also practiced chamber music with Stefan Kamasa, Roman Jabłoński and Jerzy Marchwiński as a member of the Polish Radio and Television Quartet. On March 26, 1971, he obtained a university diploma with a very good result with the highest distinction.

      Since 1994 he has been a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and a lecturer at master classes. Visiting professor at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk.

      He sits on the jury in many prestigious violin competitions, incl. in 2006 in the International Violin Competition Joseph Joachim and many times as the chairman and member of the International Competition for Young Violinists Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski in Lublin and the International Violin Competition Henryk Wieniawski in Poznań.

      He has performed over 2,000 recitals and concerts with orchestras around the world. He played with famous orchestras, performed at festivals in Lucerne, Bordeaux, Berlin, Brighton, Prague, Barcelona and others. He has made many CD, radio and television recordings. He also practiced chamber music, participates in the performance and recordings of Polish contemporary music. He takes part in numerous foreign tours with Polish orchestras. He is mainly associated with the National Philharmonic. He collaborated, among others with Berliner Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, English Chamber.

      His repertoire includes works from the Baroque period to Romanticism, from Antonio Vivaldi to Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki (Violin Concerto No. 1), and Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński.

      Awarded distinctions from the ministries of culture and of foreign affairs for promotion of Polish art abroad. K.A. Kulka received also national and local awards, a.o. from the cities of Gdańsk and Cracow.

    • fot. Wojciech Grzędziński
      Dr Artur Szklener

      A musicologist, academic teacher and cultural manager. In 1997 he graduated with distinction in musicology from the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. While a student, he benefitted from scholarships at the University of Exeter (1994–1995) and on the Phare programme in London, Prague, Brno and Kraków (from 1994 to 1997).

      In 2008 he was awarded a humanities doctorate in art studies at his alma mater, based on a dissertation dealing with Chopin’s melodic idiom. From 1997 to 2011 he taught at the Institute of Musicology on the History Faculty of the Jagiellonian University. His scholarly research focussed on the music of Chopin and methods for analysing tonal music. He has edited a series of academic publications comprising the proceedings of annual Chopin conferences and co-founded the publishing series Works by Chopin: Facsimile Edition.

      Since 2001 he has been associated with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, initially as coordinator of the academic programme, then from 2009 to 2012 as deputy director for research and publishing. In 2012 he was selected to become the Institute’s new director. Cooperation with outstanding artists and world-renowned scholars and museologists, as well as the implementation of modern technological solutions in the promotion of culture have ensured the Institute of a place among the leading cultural institutions in Poland.

      From 2017 to 2019 he was coordinator of the All-Poland Conference on Culture organised by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The nationwide debate among cultural milieux gave rise to a parliamentary bill that meets the needs of professional artists and performers, among others things securing their place in the state social and medical security system.

      He was director of the 17th and 18th editions of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition (2015 and 2021). For his organisational work and the innovative communication of events through traditional and digital media, he has received numerous distinctions, including the Forbes Milestone and the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Prize, as well as making the ‘New Europe 100’ list of innovators from Central and Eastern Europe. In 2021 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland.

    • fot. Karpati&Zarewicz
      Dr Miłosz Bembinow

      Miłosz Bembinow was born in 1978 in Warsaw. He studied Composition in the class of Prof. S. Moryto and Symphonic-Opera Conducting in the class of Prof. A. Wit in the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he now works as an Assistant Professor (The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music).

      In 2012 Bembinow obtained his Ph.D. in composition. He received many awards and scholarships – among others the Polish Minister of Culture’s Scholarship “Young Poland”. In years 2007-2008 Miłosz Bembinow has been working as a Guest Professor in composition major at Keimyung University in Daegu in South Korea.

      Bembinow’s artistic output covers not only solo, chamber, choir, orchestral and oratorical pieces but also popular and film music. His music has been performed in the majority of European countries, South and North Americas as well as in Asia. It was also presented by various radio and TV broadcasting stations as well as issued on over 30 CD’s. Couple of these CD’s received the “Fryderyk” award, granted by the Polish Phonographic Academy.

      As a conductor Miłosz Bembinow has cooperated with various symphony orchestras. He conducted many first performances and recordings of pieces written by Polish young composers. Since 2000 he has been the artistic supervisor of “Forum Ensemble” Chamber Orchestra co-founded by him. During the 2004-2006 seasons he has worked in the Musical Theatre “Capitol” in Wrocław as the music director and conductor of F. Lehar’s operetta The Land of Smile and as a conductor of L. Bernstein’s West Side Story.

      The personage of Miłosz Bembinow is strictly connected with organizational work upon various cultural and musical events. He is one of the main initiators of the “Students Musical Forum” festival and the National Competition for Young Composers. In years 2003-2007 he served as a chairman in the Polish Section of “Jeunesses Musicales International” and in years 2002-2011 as a chairman in the Artistic Initiatives’ Foundation “Harmony Sphere”. In years 2008-2009 he was a vice director of an international project Keimyung-Chopin Academy of Music in Daegu in South Korea. Recently, among others, Bembinow is related to the Polish Composers’ Union and the Society of Authors ZAiKS.

    • photo Karpati&Zarewicz
      Krzysztof Kur

      Singer, culture manager. He graduated with honors from the Vocal and Acting Department of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in the singing class of prof. Kazimierz Pustelak (1996) as well as Organization and Management at the Warsaw School of Economics (1996). He finished his postgraduate studies in Administration at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw (2008).

      From November 2022 he is Head of the Impressariat and the Director’s Representative in the Polish Royal Opera.

      From September 2017 to January 2023, he was the Director of the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw (until May 2019 – the Orchestra of Polish Radio). Previously, from November 2016 to August 2017, he was Deputy Director of the Orchestra of Polish Radio. In the years 2005-2012, he was the Deputy General Director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and in the years 2003-2005, he was the Plenipotentiary of the Director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera for the Ode to Europe – Music Season of United Europe at that institution.

      In the years 1992-2017, he was a soloist (tenor) of the Warsaw Chamber Opera, where he performed over 40 roles in operas by W.A. Mozart, G. Rossini, P. Tchaikovsky, G. Verdi, I. Stravinsky, B. Britten, and V. Ullmann. He also performed solo parts in baroque operas by C. Monteverdi, J. Peri, J.B. Lylly, and B. Galuppi. He took part in the premieres of operas by Zygmunt Krauze and Bernadetta Matuszczak. He was an assistant to the late director Ryszard Peryt.

      He performed solo parts in oratorios of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, J. Haydn, and G. Rossini. He has collaborated as a soloist with the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk, the Kraków Opera, the Grand Theater in Warsaw, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and many Polish philharmonics. He also took part in Rosenheimer Operntage (Germany) and Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Austria).

      Since 1988, he has been a soloist and manager of the Romuald Traugutt Philharmonic – a group of singers, musicians, and actors promoting Polish music, especially of the patriotic kind. Since 1999 – after the death of its founder Tadeusz Kaczyński – he has been managing the Romuald Traugutt Filharmonia Foundation. As its director, he is the organizer of the Festival of Polish Composers’ Songs, Festival of European Songs, Evenings with Polish Poetry, Artistic Salons, Passion Festival Crucifixus est, as well as the Christmas Festival Incarnatus est. He is also a producer and performer of recordings of Polish patriotic songs.

      He has made recordings for Polish Radio and Polish Television, among others. He gave concerts and performed on the stages in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, Lebanon, Oman, and Japan. In 2005, he was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit.

      He began his adventure with music and organization of musical life in the choirs of the Piotr Maszyński Singing Society “Lutnia” in Warsaw, where in the years 1974-1990 he sang in the boys’ and youth vocal ensembles, organized concerts in Poland and abroad, as well as hosted foreign choirs.

      He is a collector of prints from the January Uprising period and Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts. These collections are under the custody of the 1863.PL Foundation established by him. He loves traveling and cycling and is the author of photographs for several tourist guides.