Employees

prof. dr hab.

Janusz Przybylski

conducting a brass orchestra

Graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Łódź, where he completed two faculties: instrumentalist (Professor Zbigniew Frieman's viola class) and theory, composition and conducting (Professor Tomasz Kiesewetter's class, diploma with honours). In 1972, he received a scholarship from the Italian Government and studied in Italy under the direction of the conductor Franco Ferrara. In 1975-76 he took aspirant studies at the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad Conservatory in the class of Professor Arvid Jansons. In 1991-2007, he was an associate professor at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk, where he established a class in symphonic and opera conducting at the Department of Theory, Composition and Conducting. He also established and managed Postgraduate Studies for Wind Orchestra Conductors. In 1992, he completed Postgraduate Studies in Management Education at the University of Gdańsk. In October 2010 he is nominated Professor of Musical Arts by the President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski. Since October 2013, he has been working with the Faculty of Vocal and Acting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. While still an instrumental student, he took up a position in the orchestra of the State Philharmonic in Łódź. From 1964 he directed the professional choir of the Kraków Philharmonic, at the invitation of the then Artistic Director, Henryk Czyż, where he prepared the choirs for the recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's St Luke Passion (together with Henryk Czyż and Józef Suwara, he received the Grand Prix du Disque in 1967). In 1970-1980 he was the Artistic Director of the Olsztyn Philharmonic. Since 1980 he was the music director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera, from 1982 to 1984 he was the deputy Managing and Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, at the same time working at the Academy of Music in Warsaw conducting its symphony orchestra. In 1984-1993 he was the Artistic Director of the Baltic Opera, and later of the Baltic Philharmonic. From September 1994 to June 1996 he was the Artistic Director of the National Opera in Skopje (Macedonia). In 1997-1999 he was Artistic Consultant to the Philharmonics in Koszalin and Olsztyn. From September 2003 to December 2007 he was again Music Director of the Baltic Opera. In 2008-2011 he held the post of Artistic Director of the Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic in Olsztyn. In October 2009 the Feliks Nowowiejski Choir of the Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic in Olsztyn was established on his initiative.  He conducted the majority of the most famous operatic works, including those by Giuseppe Verdi (he produced almost all of his operas, including Ernani, The Robbers, Don Carlos, Macbeth, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, and conducted Nabucca over 200 times), Giacomo Puccini (e.g. Sister Angelica, Madonna, and the famous Polish opera, The Adventures of the Sister Angelica), and the opera of the Unknown Unknowns. He has also conducted works by Giacomo Puccini (Sister Angelica, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Manon Lescaut, Turandot), Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Eugene Onegin, The Queen of Spades) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni). He has also conducted works by Richard Strauss (The Knight of the Silver Rose), Georg Friedrich Handel (Amadeus of Gaul). He has produced great symphonic music (e.g. symphonies and concertos by Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler) and oratorio music (e.g. Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem, Gioacchino Rossini's Little Solemn Mass). He has conducted ballet performances (e.g. Léo Delibes' Coppélia, Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet). He performs on all major theatres and concert stages in Poland. From 01 November 1999 to 06 February 2000 he went on a European tour with the Orchestra and Ballet of the St. Petersburg Theatre, with which he still collaborates. He has also cooperated with the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre in Minsk, the State Opera and Ballet Theatre from Voronezh, Moscow Imperial Ballet and Lvov Philharmonic and Opera, where in 2004 he conducted the first post-war and first in over 100 years staging in Polish of Stanislaw Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor, directed by Robert Skolmowski, a co-production with the Lower Silesian Opera). In 2010, in Olsztyn, he realised the project Symphony of the Street, juxtaposing symphonic music with rap. He has made many recordings for CDs as well as for radio, television and film.

Major achievements:
For his artistic achievements he has received many regional, departmental and state awards and distinctions, he is also the recipient of many prestigious awards and distinctions abroad, among others:

1967: Grand Prix du Disque award (together with Henryk Czyż and Józef Suwara) for the CD recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's St Luke Passion
1986 and 1989: German music critics' award for the best performance of 1986 and 1989 staged and presented in Germany (La Traviata and Nabucco)
1995: Order of the Emir of Kuwait;
2001: Medal of the National Education Commission for special merits for education and upbringing.
2006: Badge of Honour for Services to the Province of Warmia and Mazury
2006: St James's Medal awarded by the Mayor of Olsztyn for dissemination of musical culture of the city of Olsztyn
2007: "Gloria Artis" Silver Medal for Meritorious Culture
2007: Award of the Mayor of Gdańsk (for outstanding contribution to the promotion of musical culture in Pomerania and on the occasion of the jubilee of 35 years of artistic work)
2010: "Fryderyk" Prize awarded by the Phonographic Academy (for the recording of the album Missa Pro Pace by Feliks Nowowiejski)
2010: St James's Medal for outstanding contribution to the promotion of culture (second time)
2011: Knight's Cross of the Rebirth of Poland.
2021: Gold Medal "Meritorious for Culture Gloria Artis"

At the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music: collaborates with the Faculty of Vocal and Acting. Since 2020, teaches a class in wind band conducting as part of the Postgraduate Studies in Wind Band Conducting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.