Witold Rowicki (born ''Witold Kałka'', 26 February 1914 in Taganrog,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– 1 October 1989 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) was a Polish conductor. He held principal conducting positions with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra The Bamberg Symphony (German: Bamberger Symphoniker – Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie) is a German orchestra based in Bamberg. It is one of the most prestigious orchestras in Germany. The orchestra was formed in 1946 mainly from German musicians e ...

. Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra was dedicated to him.

Biography

Rowicki arrived in Poland in 1923, attending schools in Żywiec and

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

before matriculating at the conservatory in Kraków. He studied violin under Artur Malawski and theory under director Michał Piotrowski and made his conducting debut, while still a student, in 1933. Graduating in 1938, he was appointed professor of violin at the conservatory and spent the occupation years in Kraków. After the Soviet expulsion of the Nazis from Poland, Rowicki revived the defunct

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), is one of Poland's radio orchestra and premier musical institutions. It was founded in 1935 in Warsaw. In 1945 the orchestra was re-established in Katowice and since 2006 it has become a "Nati ...

, which had disbanded during the war, 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 ...

. Between 1950 and 1955, and again between 1958 and 1977, Rowicki was the director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, leading the orchestra on multiple foreign tours and receiving several decorations from the Polish government. He later moved to West Germany and directed the Bamberg Symphony from 1983 to 1985.

Discography

Rowicki was most strongly associated with the Warsaw Philharmonic, but he also made recordings as a guest conductor with orchestras including the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

, and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

(all in London), the

Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. The orchestra also performs in Yokohama a ...

in Tokyo, and the

Wiener Symphoniker The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the Thea ...

. His recordings include: * a Dvořák symphony cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra, * works of

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 ...

* the

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

, ''Eternal Songs'' and ''

Lithuanian Rhapsody ''Lithuanian Rhapsody'' (Polish ''Rapsodia litewska'') in A minor, Op. 11 is the third of Mieczysław Karłowicz's six symphonic poems. A typical performance lasts 18—20 minutes. History Origins of the composition The ''Lithuanian Rhapsod ...

'' of

Mieczysław Karłowicz Mieczysław Karłowicz (, 11 December 18768 February 1909) was a Polish composer and conductor. Life Mieczysław Karłowicz was born in Vishneva, in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) into a noble family belonging to C ...

* various works of

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 ...

.Dunnett, Roderic, "The Review Section: Records - Szymanowski" (November 1990). ''The Musical Times'', 131 (1773): pp. 603-604. * Schumann and Prokofiev

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

s with Sviatoslav Richter;

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

piano concertos with Ingrid Haebler and the London Symphony Orchestra

References

External links

Biography (in Polish)

1914 births 1989 deaths People from Nowy Sącz Polish conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Burials at Powązki Cemetery 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century male musicians Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) {{poland-conductor-stub