The Department of Choral Conducting, operating within the structure of the Institute of Conducting, was established in 2019 and continues the tradition of previous units operating at the Academy since 1972: the Department of Choral Conducting founded by Prof. Stefan Stuligrosz, the Department of Conducting Vocal and Instrumental Ensembles and, again, the Department of Choral Conducting. The successive heads included Prof. Stefan Stuligrosz (1972-1982), Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński (1982-2005), Prof. Janusz Dzięcioł (2005-2007), Prof. Leon Zaborowski (2007-2012), Prof. Magdalena Wdowicka-Mackiewicz (2012-2020). Currently, the Department is headed by Prof. Marek Gandecki.

The main tasks of the Department are to initiate and carry out artistic, research, academic and teaching work of the associated pedagogues, who are research and research and teaching staff. The unit is a platform for the exchange of choirmasters’ experience, and its tasks also include supervision and support of the choirmasters in obtaining their consecutive degrees of professional promotion. One of the most essential elements of the Department’s activities is organizing conferences, academic sessions, master classes, open lectures, vocal and conducting workshops taught by its members and invited experts from Poland and abroad. The Department also undertakes cooperation with professional artistic institutions and music education, and integrates the choral community by co-creating the cultural offer of Poznań and Wielkopolska.

The primary event organized by the Department since 1986 has been the National Competition for Choral Conductors, initiated by Professor Stanislaw Kulczynski and named after him since 2014. This is the only competition of its kind in Poland for students of music universities, as it plays an important role in promoting young choral conductors, integrates academic centers, enabling them to exchange experience. The Department members also participate in organizing workshops and concert cycles titled “Pedagogues and Their Choirs” and “Graduates and Their Choirs”, as well as the Choral Music Interpretation Courses – meetings that have been held for more than 20 years, enabling work with outstanding choirmasters, musicologists and composers. Thirteen editions of the Course have so far attracted such eminent figures as Stefan Stuligrosz, Bohdan Pociej, Marek Dyżewski, Agnieszka Franków-Zelazny, Paweł Łukaszewski, Peter Phillips, Sigvards Kļava, Theodora Pavlovitch, and Yuval Weiberg. In collaboration with the Department of Composition of the Academy, the Department co-organizes the Andrzej Koszewski International Composition Competition, and the winning piece becomes the mandatory element of the final round of the next conducting competition.

The Department supervises the educational process of creating and updating curricula for specialized subjects and majors within the Choral Conducting specialty. The Department also supports the activities of the Student Artistic and Academic Circle of Choral Conducting, including the organization of workshops, open conducting lessons and concerts cycles titled “Students and Their Choirs.”

 

Department Members

prof. dr hab. Marek Gandecki – Head
prof. dr hab. Magdalena Wdowicka-Mackiewicz
prof. dr hab. Przemysław Pałka
prof. dr hab. Jan Borowski, prof. AMP
prof. AMP, dr hab. Tomasz Dzięcioł
dr hab. Paweł Łuczak
dr hab. Marianna Lewicka
dr Maciej Grosz
dr Sławomira Raczyńska
mgr Tomasz Karwański
mgr Michał Plichta