About us

The Institute of Jazz and Pop Music educates students in jazz and pop music. The unit’s objective is to develop students’ individualities and creative personalities, prepare them to work in orchestras and ensembles, as well as take up pedagogical work.

 

The didactic activity is concentrated on preparing for independent creation and performance of improvised and pop music. It educates virtuoso instrumentalists and vocalists, band musicians, composers and arrangers in the following specialties of jazz and pop music: flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, guitar, bass guitar, double bass, percussion, vocal studies, and composition with arrangement.

An important part of the Institute’s work is the Chair of Creativity and Jazz Interpretation that operates within the unit. The teaching staff of this Chair consists of the leading artists of the Polish jazz scene, and the successes and achievements of the lecturers, students and graduates are international. They take part in competitions, workshops, festivals and conferences, organize local events promoting jazz among music lovers. The following authorial initiatives, carried out by the team of the Chair, have become part of the landscape of music life of Wielkopolska: concerts with guest appearances by Polish and international artists, weekly jam sessions in Poznań clubs, concerts of graduate students, open lectures, meetings, screenings, and conferences devoted to the dialogue between various fields of art, with a special focus on jazz. All these events are created to develop and enrich the cultural life of the city, whose jazz tradition is particularly strong and vivid.

At the same time, the Chair is engaged in research on the musical tradition of jazz in Poznań and Wielkopolska region, creates an archive of organized events and activities, and establishes collaboration with universities and institutions around the world.

The Institute provides opportunities for scientific development of its employees, earning degrees and titles, conducting research projects and educating future staff for newly developing pilot jazz departments in secondary education. The institute’s employees are recognized as reviewers in degree conferral procedures of jazz specialties in Poland.

Students and teachers conduct extensive international activities with a special focus on the “European Jazz School” and within the Erasmus program.

Contact details:

director
of the Institute of Jazz and Pop Music
Wojciech Olszewski, PhD, DSc, ProfTit
e-mail: wolszewski@amuz.edu.pl

 

deputy director
of the Institute of Jazz and Pop Music
assistant prof. Maciej Kociński, PhD
e-mail: mkocinski@amuz.edu.pl