Employees

Monika Wolińska is a Professor and member of the faculty of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw since 2004, where she teaches students in symphonic and opera conducting. From 2020 to 2024, she also served as Chair of the Department of Symphonic and Opera Conducting, becoming the first woman in the university’s history to hold that position. Her students and graduates are laureates of competitions, scholarship recipients, and artists achieving significant professional success. Selected examples include:

- Daniel Mieczkowski – First Prize and Orchestra Prize at the 3rd Adam Kopyciński National Conducting Competition in Wrocław (2022); Second Prize at the 7th Witold Lutosławski National Competition for Young Conductors in Białystok; conductor-in-residence with Sinfonia Varsovia; active participant in masterclasses (Jorma Panula, Marin Alsop, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Kristian Järvi); scholarship recipient of the Jerzy Semkow Foundation.

- Julian Gilewski – First Prize at the 4th Adam Kopyciński National Conducting Competition (2023); finalist in the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Program auditions; assistant conductor at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw; recipient of the Jerzy Semkow Foundation Scholarship and the Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage; participant in masterclasses (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andris Nelsons, Tanglewood Conducting Seminar). In the 2026/2027 season he will make his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Monika Wolińska made her conducting debut in 2004 at the Lucerne Festival, working under the guidance of Pierre Boulez. For many years she collaborated as an assistant with Maestro Jerzy Semkow, and in the 2007/2008 season she served as assistant to Professor Krzysztof Penderecki. In 2020 she was awarded the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and in 2011 she received the honorary badge Meritorious for Polish Culture. She maintains an active concert career. After her performance at Carnegie Hall, David Dubal described her conducting as marked by “great sensitivity and an extraordinary sense of orchestral color.” Her Carnegie Hall concert ended with a standing ovation and was the first in history conducted there by a Polish woman. In 2013 she received the Beautiful Poland diploma, awarded to “individuals who create beauty that we can proudly present to the world,” within the Beautiful Poland in the European Union program. In 2016 she was honored with the Success statuette by the Rotary Club in Gorzów Wielkopolski for promoting the city in Poland and abroad. In 2018 she received a special lifetime achievement award—the silver statuette named after Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski—granted by the Mayor of Chełm for achievements in artistic creation and cultural promotion. Her debut album, recorded in 2012 with Sinfonia Varsovia and featuring the complete symphonic poems of the eminent Polish composer Eugeniusz Morawski, received excellent reviews and was nominated for the 2013 Fryderyk Award. A dedicated advocate of contemporary music, she has premiered numerous works and has appeared many times at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and in the Generations concert series. From 2013 to 2017 she served as Artistic Director of the Wojciech Kilar Contemporary Music Festival. In 2014 she conducted the premiere of Universa – Opera Otwarta by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, composed for the 650th anniversary of the Jagiellonian University. In 2019 she conducted the premiere of Rapsodia Śląska by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, commemorating the centenary of the Silesian Uprisings. In October 2014 she conducted a concert featuring Thomas Hampson, who performed in Poland for the first time at her invitation. She began her comprehensive artistic education at the age of six. She completed three fields of study: violin; choral and instrumental ensemble conducting (Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz); and symphonic and operatic conducting in the class of Professor Ryszard Dudek (Academy of Music in Warsaw). She participated in masterclasses led by Kurt Masur, Pierre Boulez, Antoni Wit, and Gabriel Chmura. In 2015 she completed Postgraduate General Management Studies at the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw. Monika Wolińska is the author of a book about the distinguished Polish conductor Stanisław Wisłocki, titled Stanisław Wisłocki – Conductor and Pedagogue. Between 2003 and 2009 she collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Warsaw. In the 2007/2008 season she served as permanent conductor of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. From 2013 to 2017 she was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra, with which she recorded the album Bronisław Kaper / Jan A.P. Kaczmarek – SPOTKANIE in November 2015. In June 2017 she was selected as one of six finalists worldwide—chosen from 161 candidates— for the Hart Institute for Women Conductors at the Dallas Opera.