The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music is a school of music of

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

level in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It is named for

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the inf ...

Studies

The school offers full-time and part-time BA, MA and DA studies at two departments: Composition, Interpretation, Education and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Department and Vocal-Instrumental Department. Studies are offered in the following fields: *

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

(speciality: symphonic and opera conducting) * composition and theory of music (specialties: composition, theory of music, eurhythmics) *

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

(specialties:

, choral conducting, music therapy) *

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

interpretation (specialties: composition and arrangements, instrumental performance,

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

performance) * instrumental performance * vocal performance It offers paid studies in given specialties in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. Study programs are based on the European Credit Transfer System.

Concerts

Each year the school holds several artistic events such as

concerts A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or musical band, band. Concerts are held in a w ...

(admission free), competitions,

master classes A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed. "Masterclass" is also ...

and

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

s. Many

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

s consisting of students perform concerts on a regular basis:

Academic

Symphony Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

, Academic Wind Orchestra, Academic

Baroque Orchestra A Baroque orchestra is an ensemble for mixed instruments that existed during the Baroque era of Western Classical music, commonly identified as 1600–1750. Baroque orchestras are typically much smaller, in terms of the number of performers, than t ...

, Academic

Chamber Orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

, Mixed Choir of the

Academy of Music,

Chamber Choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

and

Institute Big-Band. It organizes bigger events as well: International

Festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

of Academic Orchestras (every 2 years),

Instrumental Music An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

Festival (each year), Vocal Music Days (each year), International

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

Festival,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Festival (each year), All-Poland Brass Instruments

Competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

, International

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

Festival.

Alumni

Alumni include:
*

Composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. E ...

Wojciech Kilar Wojciech Kilar (; 17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award ...

, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki,

Witold Szalonek Witold Szalonek (born in 1927 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died in 2001 in Berlin) was a Polish composer. In 1949-56 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. Following his first successes at international composers' competitions, h ...

Eugeniusz Knapik Eugeniusz Knapik (born July 9, 1951, in Ruda Śląska) is a Polish pianist and composer of classical music best known for his 1980 chamber piece String Quartet No. 1. Knapik studied composition and piano with Henryk Górecki (1933–2010) a ...

Aleksander Lasoń Aleksander Lasoń (born 10 November 1951) is a Polish composer and teacher. He was born in Siemianowice Śląskie. He studied composition under professor Józef Świder's at The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He is professor at ...

* Conductors:

Karol Stryja Karol Stryja (2 February 1915 in Cieszyn – 31 January 1998 in Katowice) was a Polish conductor and teacher. Stryja, son of a tailor, was born in Cieszyn and finished elementary school, gymnasium and teachers' seminary there. Since 1934 he wo ...

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Tadeusz Żmudziński Tadeusz Żmudziński (9 July 1924, in Chorzów – 17 October 1992, in Katowice) was a Polish pianist and educator. In 1946, Żmudziński graduated with highest honours from the University of Music in Katowice, where he studied under Prof. Władys ...

, Lidia Grychtołówna,

Andrzej Jasiński Andrzej Jasiński (born 23 October 1936 in Częstochowa) is a Polish pianist. In 1959 he graduated with honors from the University of Music in Katowice in the piano class of Władysława Markiewiczówna. The following year he won the Maria Cana ...

Jerzy Sterczyński Jerzy Sterczyński (born 1957) is a Polish pianist and piano teacher. Since 1989 he has been a professor at Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw and since 2005 - the head of the Piano, Harpsichord and Organ Department.Fryderyk Chopin Music Aca ...

, Krystian Zimerman,

Joanna Domańska Joanna Domańska (born 20 September 1959) is a Polish classical pianist and music teacher from Gliwice. Biography Domańska started her piano studies at the Academy of Music in Kraków with professor Jan Hoffman, and graduated with distinction ...

Krzysztof Jabłoński Krzysztof Jabłoński (born 30 September 1977 in Gniezno, Poland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Jabłoński won European Champion titles and was a member of the Polish national team. In October 2008, he joined the ...

, Przemysław Lechowski,

Szczepan Kończal Szczepan Kończal (Polish pronunciation: ʂtʂɛpan kɔɲtʂal) (born on 27 May 1985, in Katowice, Poland) is a Polish classical pianist who has won prizes in many international music competitions held in more than a dozen different countries. ...

, Anna Górecka, Jarred Dunn *

Szymon Krzeszowiec Szymon Krzeszowiec (; born 20 April 1974) is a Polish violinist, chamber musician and pedagogue. Musician of the Silesian String Quartet and member of the Trio Aristos. Education Szymon Krzeszowiec was born in Tychy, Poland. He started his mu ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Marcin Dylla Marcin Dylla is a Polish classical guitarist who has won over fifteen international classical guitar competitions. He was born in Chorzów, Poland, and took lessons at the Ruda Śląska Music High School, attended the Academy of Music in Katow ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

performers:

Tomasz Szukalski Tomasz Szukalski, born December 25, 1947, in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, registered by Soviet authorities January 8, 1948 – died August 2, 2012, in Piaseczno, Poland, was a Polish jazz saxophonist, composer and improviser. Szukalski worke ...

, Kasia Cerekwicka, Janusz Szrom * the

Silesian String Quartet The Silesian String Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1978 by the graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. Its current members are: * Szymon Krzeszowiec (violin I) * Arkadiusz Kubica (violin II) * Łukasz S ...

, including:

Location

The school consists of five buildings. The oldest neo-Gothic building was constructed at the end of the 19th century (33, Wojewódzka street). It is linked with the modern building which includes a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...

for 480 people by a spacious atrium (designed by Tomasz Konior). Apart from the concert hall, the modern building includes one of the biggest musical libraries in

, a music therapy hall, an

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

laboratory, a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and many other facilities. The atrium is also linked with a building in 3, Zacisze street, where the Academy's authorities have their offices. The other two buildings where lectures and rehearsals take place, are located in 5, Zacisze street and 27, Krasińskiego street.

Museum of Silesian Organ

The

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, located in the basement of the oldest building, is the only museum of this kind in

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

. It gathers and preserves many objects connected with

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

and its history.

International cooperation

The academy has exchange agreements with the School of Music of

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

in the United States, the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemét in Hungary, and the department of

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

of Palacký University of Olomouc in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It participates in the

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

Programme.

External links

References

{{authority control Universities and colleges in Katowice Music schools in Poland Educational institutions established in 1929 1929 establishments in Poland