Employees

prof. dr

Bronisława Kawalla-Ryszka

piano

Bronisława Kawalla graduated with honours from the Music Academy in Warsaw in 1967. In 1970-1 she continued her studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Monique Haas and Philippe Entremont at the Académie Internationale Maurice Ravel.

She has been awarded at several piano competitions, including the Bach Competition in Washington D.C. in 1975.

She has played in the leading concert halls in Europe, Canada, the US, Asia and Latin America, and at international festivals in Bratislava, Mariánské Lázně, Duszniki-Zdrój, Cheltenham and Baltimore.

She also appears with renowned orchestras, including the National Philharmonic, Polish Radio and TV Symphony (now National Polish Radio Orchestra), Berliner Sinfonie, Dublin Radio and TV, and many others. After one of her concerts in the UK "The Daily Telegraph" has put her among the leading pianists of today.

She appears at numerous masterclasses and lectures on the interpretation of Chopin in the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and other countries.

She has made a number of recordings, including Bach's Goldberg Variations, works by Chopin, and 2 CDs dedicated to 20th-century music. Through the 35 years of her teaching activity at the Music Academy in Warsaw, she has coached over 70 pianists in Poland and abroad. Many of them have been awarded at national and international competitions, and have become lecturers at music academies: Edward Wolanin, Filip Wojciechowski, Paweł Mazurkiewicz and Radosław Sobczak, highest-ranked Pole at the 14th F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2000. Bronisława Kawalla is also a social activist, a board member of the Karol Szymanowski Society in Zakopane, and over two decades a member of the F. Chopin Society, elected Vice-Chairman of the Society in 2002. She is also a founder member of the Nike Lions Club in Poland.

For her artistic and teaching achievements, she has been distinguished with a Minister of Culture Award and Minister of Foreign Affairs Award.

In fall 2005, Kawalla has recorded two Chopin DVDs in Japan for a local label, featuring the complete Impromptus, a selection of Waltzes, and Kawalla's lectures on the interpretation of Chopin works.

She was invited to the Programme Board of the NIFC on 4th December 2005.