Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw

The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw
Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie
Established	1810
Type	Public
Rector	Professor Stanisław Moryto
Admin. staff	509
Students	898
Location	Warsaw, Poland
Campus	Urban
Website	www.chopin.edu.pl

The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie) is located at ulica Okólnik 2 in central Warsaw, Poland. It is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe.^[1][2]

History

Named for the great Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (whose birth name was Fryderyk Chopin and who studied there from 1826 to 1829)^[2][a], the University dates its history from the Music School for singers and theater actors that had been founded in 1810 by Wojciech Bogusławski. In 1820 it was transformed by Chopin's subsequent teacher, Józef Elsner, into a more general school of music, the Institute of Music and Declamation; it was then affiliated with the University of Warsaw and, together with the University, was dissolved by Russian imperial authorities during the repressions that followed the November 1830 Uprising. In 1861 it was revived as Warsaw's Institute of Music.

After Poland regained independence in 1918, the Institute was taken over by the Polish state and became known as the Warsaw Conservatory. The institutions's old main building was destroyed during World War II, in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, in 1946, the school was recreated as the Higher State School of Music. In 1979 the school assumed its name, the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy. 29.05.2008 the school once again changed its name into The Frideric Chopin University of Music.^[2]

Buildings

Fryderyk Chopin University of Music

The main building, at ulica Okólnik 2 in Central Warsaw, was constructed between 1960 and 1966. It contains 62 sound-proof classrooms; a concert hall (486 seats), the Szymanowski Lecture Theater (adapted for film projection; 155 seats), the Melcer Chamber Music Hall (196 seats and an organ), the Moniuszko Opera Hall (53 seats), a rhythmics room, three music-recording and sound-track studios, a tuner's studio, a library and reading room, rector's offices, deans' offices, management offices, guest rooms, the GAMA student club, a cafeteria, and doctor's and dentist's clinics. There is also a music book shop and antiquarian book shop.

The University also has its own dormitory, Dziekanka, at 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście. The latter has its own 150-seat concert hall.

Structure

The University is divided into 6 departments:

• Department I: Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music
• Department II: Piano, Harpsichord and Organs
• Department III: Instrumental Studies
• Department IV: Vocal Studies
• Department V: Choir Conducting, Musical Education, Church Music, Rhythmics and Dance
• Department VI: Sound Directing / Engineering
• Department VII: Instru­men­tal and Edu­ca­tional Stud­ies in Białystok

Directors and rectors

• Wojciech Bogusławski (1810-1814)
• Józef Elsner (1816-1830)
• Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński (1922-1927)
• Karol Szymanowski (1927-1929, 1930-1931)
• Kazimierz Sikorski (1940-44 Director of Staatliche Musikschule in Warsaw)
• Stanisław Kazuro (1945-1951)
• Teodor Zalewski (1966-1969)
• Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz (1969-71)
• Regina Smendzianka (1972-73)
• Tadeusz Wroński (1973-1975)
• Tadeusz Maklakiewicz (1975-1978)
• Bogusław Madey (1978-1981)
• Andrzej Rakowski (1981-1987)
• Kazimierz Gierżod (1987-94)
• Andrzej Chorosiński (1993-99)
• Ryszard Zimak (1999-2005)
• Stanisław Moryto (2005-present)

Doctors honoris causa

Igor Bełza Nadia Boulanger Plácido Domingo Jan Ekier Joachim Grubich Andrzej Jasiński Witold Lutosławski

Andrzej Panufnik Krzysztof Penderecki Jean-Pierre Rampal Mstislav Rostropovich Arthur Rubinstein Witold Rudziński Jerzy Semkow

Kazimierz Sikorski Stefan Śledziński Regina Smendzianka Stefan Sutkowski Tadeusz Wroński

Notable professors

Tadeusz Baird Walerian Bierdiajew Wiktor Brégy Henryk Czyż Zbigniew Drzewiecki Irena Dubiska Hieronim Feicht Antoni Karużas Ludwik Kurkiewicz

Wincenty Laski Aleksander Michałowski Stanisław Moniuszko Arnold Rezler Witold Rudziński Ada Sari Mieczysław Szaleski Antoni Szaliński Tadeusz Szeligowski

Karol Szymanowski Witold Maliszewski Margerita Trombini-Kazuro Józef Turczyński Maria Wiłkomirska Kazimierz Wiłkomirski Stanisław Wisłocki Tadeusz Wroński Władysław Żeleński

Notable students

Fryderyk Chopin Grażyna Bacewicz Thomas Böttger Elisabeth Chojnacka Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Grzegorz Fitelberg Mieczysław Karłowicz Stefan Kisielewski Paweł Klecki Hilary Koprowski Hanna Kulenty

Wanda Landowska Jerzy Lefeld Witold Lutosławski Jan Maklakiewicz Maciej Małecki Zygmunt Noskowski Ignacy Jan Paderewski Andrzej Panufnik Piotr Perkowski Ludomir Różycki Antoni Szalowski

Stanisław Szpinalski Alexandre Tansman Piotr Tomaszewski Zbigniew Turski Eugenia Umińska Moshe Vilenski[3] Mieczysław Weinberg Kazimierz Wiłkomirski Daniel Wnukowski Bohdan Wodiczko

Competitions

The University organizes the following music competitions:

• the Tadeusz Wronski International Solo Violin Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs T. Wrońskiego na Skrzypce Solo)
• an International Organ Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Organowy)
• the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Klawesynowy im. W. Landowskiej)
• the Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Wiolonczelowy im. W. Lutosławskiego)

Orchestras

The University has two orchestras – a Symphony Orchestra, and the Chopin University Orchestra — and a Choir.

Notes

a ^{^} Since at that time the Warsaw Conservatory was affiliated with Warsaw University's Art Department, Chopin is also counted among the University's alumni.

References

Inline:

1. ^ Fryderyk Chopin University of Music at the International Chopin Information Center
2. ^ ^{a b c} (Polish) Akademia Muzyczna w Warszawie, Encyklopedia WIEM
3. ^ "Moshe Vilensky". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Vilensky.html. Retrieved July 31, 2011. 

General:

• (Polish) (English) Home page
• (Polish) Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie at culture.pl
• (Polish) Akademia Muzyczna w Warszawie, Encyklopedia WIEM

Coordinates: 52°14′8″N 21°2′20″E / 52.23556°N 21.03889°E / 52.23556; 21.03889