70th Anniversary of Jerzy Maksymiuk's Artistic Work Filharmonia Narodowa

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70th Anniversary of Jerzy Maksymiuk's Artistic Work
Jerzy Maksymiuk, photo: Wiktor Wołkow

Special concert celebrating Jerzy Maksymiuk's 70th anniversary of artistic work
 

Jerzy Maksymiuk will conduct two ensembles that occupy a unique place in his rich artistic career. The maestro will conduct both the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia, with which – as he often admits – he has very strong ties. That admission takes on particular significance in the context of his impressive international career: suffice it to mention his long-standing collaboration with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra or the vibrant, energetic premieres he prepared for the English National Opera. Sinfonia Varsovia grew out of the ensemble of the Warsaw Chamber Opera, later known as the Polish Chamber Orchestra, to which the then thirty-something Maksymiuk gave new artistic impetus. The effects of their work together quickly came to international attention, and the ensemble’s first performances abroad were enthusiastically received, with Western critics full of praise, drawing attention to the orchestra’s extraordinary precision, dizzying tempos and unique sound. This success led to a contract with the prestigious EMI label – an event that Maksymiuk compared years later to receiving the Nobel Prize.
So it is hard to imagine a more beautiful form for the great maestro’s jubilee than a concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic, to which we are delighted to invite you.


Bartłomiej Gembicki

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Bartosz Michałowski

Bartosz Michałowski graduated with distinction in choral conducting from Poznań Music Academy. In 1998–2005, he was assistant to Stefan Stuligrosz and conductor of the ‘Poznań Nightingales’ Boys’ and Men’s Choir, with which he performed extensively in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Russia and Japan.

He won first prize in the 9th Polish National Choral Conductors Competition in Poznań, as well as a special prize for his diligent work on voice production with choirs. In 2015, he won the Orphée d‘Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, and was nominated for one of the Polish record industry’s Fryderyk awards. In 2020, he received a Fryderyk for a recording of Szymanowski’s opera Hagith (with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir). He also received two nominations for the International Classial Music Awards 2022. Bartosz Michałowski is the founder and artistic director of Poznań Chamber Choir, one of the leading Polish ensembles of its kind, and of the ‘Opus 966’ Polish Composition Competition. He also devised the ‘Pisz muzykę – to proste!’ (‘Write music – it’s easy!’) composing workshops for children and co-produced the ‘Obrazogranie’ (‘Picture playing’) project at the National Museum in Poznań.

As Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, he has conducted Szymanowski’s Kurpian Songs, masses by Kodály and Gretchaninov, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (the recording has been nominated for an ICMA award), Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, and oratorios: Paulus by Mendelssohn, Messiah by Handel, Christ on the Mount of Olives by Beethoven and Litanies of Ostra Brama by Moniuszko. He prepared the ensemble for the first ever performance of Anton Rubinstein’s sacred opera Moses (conducted by Michail Jurowski and recorded in 2018) and for a performance and the first ever recording of Moniuszko’s opera The Pariah in Italian, and has also helped prepare vocal-instrumental concerts of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Andrzej Boreyko, Ton Koopman, Christoph König, Matthew Halls, Martin Haselböck, Jacek Kaspszyk and Krzysztof Penderecki.

In April 2024, the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir under his direction recorded a new album – Paweł Łukaszewski. The Adoration.

Bartosz Michałowski has participated in renowned festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, and has collaborated regularly with renowned institutions and orchestras. He has numerous first performances to his credit.

In addition to gaining experience as a conductor, Bartosz Michałowski has spent many years working on enhancing his skills and knowledge in the field of voice production, completing masterclasses with Poppy Holden (Great Britain), Christian Elsner (Germany) and Józef Frakstein (Poland). He holds a PhD and is a lecturer at the Chopin University of Music.

 

[2025]