Director

Ewa Bogusz-Moore

Ewa Bogusz-Moore – general director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. In April 2019 she was invited to join the European Concert Hall Organization.

She started her musical career as a cellist. Before taking the position in NOSPR Ewa Bogusz-Moore acted as a deputy director at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute where she was entrusted with developing the strategy of promoting Polish classical music throughout the world. Her business model of the “Polska Music” programme encouraged international cooperation, e.g. with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, Berliner Philharmoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House, or Cité de la Musique. On behalf of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, she coordinated the celebrations of Witold Lutosławski’s Year and was the manager of I, CULTURE Orchestra, an educational orchestral project supporting development in Eastern Europe.

Ewa simultaneously combines orchestral management, creating and supporting musical projects with prominent organizations around the world. Her passion for the transformative power of arts together with business acumen allows her to deliver effective programs across the arts and education sectors.

Honorary Committee

Sir Simon Rattle

Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music.

For some years Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, in 1980 he became Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, stepping up to Music Director from September 1990 until August 1998.  He is also Founding Patron of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and since the early 1990s, has been a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

In September 2002 Sir Simon became Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he remained until June 2018.

In September 2017, Simon took up the position of Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Honorary Committee

Eugeniusz Knapik

From 1970 to 1976, Eugeniusz Knapik studied at the State Higher School of Music (now the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music) in Katowice, tutored by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (composition) and Czesław Stańczyk (piano). In 1976, he was granted a scholarship from the French Government, enabling him to undertake composition studies with Olivier Messiaen in Paris.

He has been continuously performing as a soloist, as well as in duos and ensembles, both in Poland and abroad. He rose to fame as the first Polish performer of O. Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus) cycle; the recording of the piece, made in 1979 (published by the DUX label in 2011), won the Fryderyk 2012 and the Diapason d’Or 2012 awards. Eugeniusz Knapik has given multiple performances during the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.

He has won numerous prizes in composing competitions. His pieces have twice represented the Polish Radio at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. He has also won the Polish Composers’ Union’s annual prize and the Minister of Culture and Arts prize. In 1999, he won the President of the City of Katowice Award, while in 2005 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta order, the Commission of National Education Medal, and the Medal for Merit in Culture ‘Gloria Artis’. In 2009, he was created a honorary member of the Polish Composers’ Union. In 2014, he won the Lutosławski Medal.

In 1988, commissioned by the director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie, he began work on The Minds of Helena Troubleyn opera trilogy. In recent years, he reached for monumental works, including: Up into the Silence, Moby Dick, Beauty Radiated in Eternity, Concerto of Song Offerings.

Eugeniusz Knapik serves as head of the Composition and Theory of Music Department at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. From 2002 to 2008, he served as the Academy’s rector.

Honorary Committee

Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa

Born in Gdynia on 28th May 1949, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa has been living in Krakow since she was five.  It was also there that she graduated from the State Music High School (diploma in piano theory, also attending violin and oboe classes).  She studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków, in the conducting and composition class (1974 graduate, tutored by professor K. Penderecki). She continued her education in conducting masterclasses with professor H. Swarovsky (Austria, 1971-72). She completed her opera internship at the Silesian Opera in Bytom in 1973. From 1973 to 1974, she was the musical director of the Teatr Ludowy in Nowa Huta, and from 1977 to 1979 she held the same post at the Stary Theatre in Kraków.  Since 1974, she has been a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Kraków and member of the Department for Analysis and theory of Music.  She has participated in numerous seminars and scientific sessions. She has published both articles for general press and scientific texts (including several publications on Zygmunt Konieczny’s theatre works).  As a conductor, she participated in important international festivals (Warsaw Autumn, Oregon Bach Festival). 

In 1991, she won the competition for the post of General Director of the State Philharmonics in Kraków. She contributed significantly to rebuilding the Philharmonics’ seat after a fire (11.12.1991).  She achieved the concert hall being reintroduced into use in less than half a year and the whole building in a year after the fire. The renovation of the building was an example of extraordinary efficient organisation and funds management.

While preparing concert programmes for the Kraków Philharmonics, she ensured a special place for Polish music. She was particularly invested in the programme of musical education for the youth.  She was consultant for the Programme Council of the Kraków 2000 Festival and member of the Villa Decius society.

She became Minister of Culture and Arts, recommended by the Unia Wolności party.  She served at the post from 30.10.1997 to 25.03.1999. During her term in office, she was an ardent supporter of the development of national minorities’ culture. As minister, she actively participated in significant international fora: a global UNESCO conference on culture in Stockholm (Multiculturalism of societies); a global meeting of ministers of culture in Canada (Our creative diversity), and a meeting of ministers of culture of the European Union countries. In December 1998, she was head of the Polish delegation to an international conference on asset restitution for the victims of the Holocaust held in Washington.

From 2000 to 2018, she served as general and programme director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. She was the initiator and originator of every project of the Orchestra: Maraton twórczości Góreckiego (Górecki’s Works Marathon), Pociąg do muzyki Kilara (Feeling Kilar), Muzyczne Podróże Morskie (Musical Sea Journeys), Dzień Kilara (Kilar Day), Noc Kilara (Kilar Night), Festiwal Górecki-Penderecki w 75. rocznicę urodzin (The Górecki-Penderecki Festival on the 75th birthday), and the biennial Festiwal Prawykonań - Polska Muzyka Najnowsza (Festival of Premieres - Polish New Music). 

Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa’s music for theatre is a significant part of her composing work (including the music for Eugène Ionesco’s Exit the King, Molier’s The Misanthrope at the Stary Theatre, William Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Wybrzeże Theatre, Gombrowicz’s Operetka at the Horzyca Theatre in Toruń), alongside her music for television theatre (including Słowacki’s Sen Srebrny Salomei [The Silver Dream of Salomea], classified within the TVP’s Theatre’s golden hundred). She has also arranged music for a number of TV plays (including ones directed by  Kazimierz Kutz: Kolacja na cztery ręce [Four-handed Supper], Antygona w nowym Jorku [Antigone in New York], Emigranci [The Emigrants], Wujaszek Wania [Uncle Wania], and Ziarno zroszone krwią [A seed sprinkled with blood]).

Having retired, in 2018, she began composing more intensively. The year 2020 marked 47 years from her composing (National Philharmony in Warsaw) and conducting (Kraków Philharmonics) debuts.

Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa has been awarded multiple honours and prizes, including The Gold Cross of Merit (2005), Silver (2005) and Gold „Gloria Artis” Medals, Honorary Award of the Polish Composers’ Union (2009), Knight’s Cross (2011) and Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2018), Gold Medal of Merit for National Defence, The „Kobieta Humanitas” [Woman Humanitas] prize in the Culture category (2015), Gold Medal for Protector of Places of National Memory, The „Meritorious Activist ofCulture ” honorary badge, 3rd-degree Minister of Culture and Arts’ Award for Educational Activity, Honorary Coryphée of Polish Music (2018), ZAiKS’ Award for the Centennary of the Society(2018), and the Lithuanian Darius and Girėnasa Medal (1998).  In 2021, she was made Honorary Citizen of Katowice.

Honorary Committee

Andrzej Jasiński

Andrzej Jasiński was born in Częstochowa in 1936. In 1959, he graduated with honours from the State Higher School of Music in Katowice in professor Władysława Markiewiczówna’s class. A year later, he won the Grand Prix of the M. Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, and subsequently completed his studies in Paris (1960-1961) with professor Magda Tagliaferro. He made several tours around the former USSR. He has also performed in Europe, Japan, Brazil, and Uruguay. He has performed in every philharmony in Poland. He participated in numerous music festivals, including seven performances at the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk. He made archive radio recordings, including ones with the WOSPR. He has performed and recorded an album with the NOSPR wind quintet.

Since 1962, he has been teaching at the Academy of Music in Katowice. He has been head of the Piano Department for many years (since 1973). His active teaching work resulted in educating a number of performing pianists and teachers. From 1979 to 1982, he taught at the Higher School of Music in Stuttgart. He has taught piano courses in multiple countries, including ones given regularly for 30 years at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He continues intensive collaboration, both as a teacher and a juror, with musical institutions in Japan and in China. Since 1975, he has been a juror of numerous piano competitions worldwide, including the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, M. Longue, A. Rubinstein, P. Tchaikovsky, F. Busoni, and van Cliburn competitions.  He has been juror of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw nine times and chair of its jury three times.  He has received multiple high state honours for his artistic and educational activity, including the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Gloria Artis Medal.  He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Katowice, Warsaw and Lviv academies of music.