We are delighted to announce the appointment of prof. dr hab. Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk as our Artistic Director.

Prof. dr hab. Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk in the period 1998-2013 he was Artistic Director of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice and the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, as well as the laureate in the competition in 1991. In a resolution of the Executive Board of the Province of Silesia dated 3 December 2013 he was appointed Director of the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic for a determined period of time until 31 August 2018.

He graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice with honours. There he studied in the class of conducting with Karol Stryja. In 1993, thanks to the scholarship in the American Society for Polish Music, he was perfecting his conducting skills in Los Angeles.

In the period 1984-1986 he conducted an ensemble of musicians from the Katowice-based Great Symphonic Orchestra of the Polish Radio and Television during the festivals “Warsaw Autumn” and “Silesian Days of Contemporary Music”. In 1986 he became Artistic Director of the National Symphonic Orchestra in Zabrze, and in 1990 – Director General and Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic in Białystok, with which he went for a tour around USA (1995, including the Carnegie Hall in New York). For two seasons he was Director General and Artistic Director of the Poznań Philharmonic (1996).

In the period 1999-2002 he was the main conductor of the International Piano Competition in Porto (Portugal), and in 2003 – a juror and conductor at the International Piano Competition in Morocco. Two years later he was appointed Artistic Director at the 2nd International Violin Competition in Toruń, and in 2011 he took the position of the chairman of the jury of the 8th W. Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw.

He performs on all stages in Poland, led by the National Philharmonic, and abroad (e.g. in Albania, Austria, Belarus, China, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Morocco, Mexico, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine and the USA). He has recorded several dozen albums with the ensembles of the Silesian Philharmonic. The last one – Górecki. Mikołaj / Henryk Mikołaj (DUX 0924) was nominated to the Fryderyk 2013 Award, and an album recorded with Zakhar Bron is being prepared. He has also conducted numerous premieres.

For promoting Polish music, with special attention paid to the contemporary music, and for the achievements of the Silesian Philharmonic under his baton, he has been honoured with the Award of the Mayor of Katowice in the field of culture. He has received a similar award from the Mayor of Rybnik. He is a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Katowice, teaching the class of conducting. On 7 August 2012 the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, granted the artist with the title of the Professor of Musical Arts.