Born in Cracow where he received a comprehensive general and musical education. He studied at the State College of Music in Cracow at the Department of Composition, Theory and Conducting. He majored and graduated with honours from Henryk Czyz's conducting class in 1967. Parallel to his music studies, Antoni Wit read law at the Department of Law, Jagiellonian University where he majored in 1969. He continued his music education at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris under Pierre Dervaux and also with Nadia Boulanger (1967-68). He perfected his conducting skills in Tanglewood (Mass.) under such famous masters of the baton as Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Seiji Ozawa (1973).
Antoni Wit made his début at the State Philharmonic in Cracow when he was still a student (1964). He began his career at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw as Witold Rowicki's assistant (1967-69). In 1968 he conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra abroad for the first time (France).
A pivotal event in Antoni Wit's career was his participation in the prestigious Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin in 1971 where he won the second prize. Two years later he assisted Herbert von Karajan at the Easter Festival in Salzburg. At the time he was a regular conductor at the Poznan Philharmonic (1970-72). He also co-operated with the Grand Theatre in Warsaw (commencing from 1970, premiers of The Barber of Seville and La Traviata) and then the Music Theatre of Malmö (commencing from 1974, premiers of Aida and The Consul). He also managed the production of Halka in the NHK, Tokyo (1975) and Teatro Verdi, Trieste (1982).
Antoni Wit was given the post of Artistic Director for the first time in 1974 (The Pomeranian Philharmonic). Three years later, he assumed the post of Artistic Director and First Conductor of the Orchestra and Choir of the Polish Radio and Television in Cracow. He travelled abroad a lot with this orchestra and also produced many archival recordings and first performances (e.g., K. Penderecki: Lacrimosa, Agnus Dei, Te Deum).
Antoni Wit was appointed Director of the Grand Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio and Television (WOSPRiTV)  in Katowice in1983 and he was responsible for the artistic output of this group for seventeen years during which he conducted the WOSPRiTV during tours of Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, The United Kingdom, USA, Hongkong, Korea, Taiwan and Brasil (91 tours, 352 concerts). The WOSPRiTV conducted by Antoni Wit recorded 96 records. The list of recordings includes symphonies by Tchaikowsky, Mahler, Schumann and Penderecki; piano concertos by Brahms, Tchaikowsky, Paderewski, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov; symphony poems by Liszt, Smetana and Strauss; the works of Górecki and Kilar, Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie and all of Witold Lutoslawski's orchestra works (9 CDs). He has recorded for e.g., Naxos, EMI-HMV, CBS, Camerata Tokyo, NVC Arts, Pony Canyon, Polskie Nagrania, Wifon and EBS Recordings. He has also recorded 183 pieces (60 hours of music) for the Polish Radio archives. Antoni Wit has remained faithful to WOSPiTV, now NOSPR, to this day - he was First Conductor of the orchestra in 2000/2001. He has conducted the Katowice orchestra at prestigious concerts at several festivals in France ("La Roque d'Antheron"), Germany (Bad Hersfeld), Lebanon (Al Bustan, Beirut) and many important events in Poland.
For four years Antoni Wit worked with Orquestra Filharmonica de Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), first as Music Director (1987-88) and then as Visiting Conductor (1989-92). Since 1 January 2002 he has been Director General and Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.
He has conducted in the most significant music centres all over the world. He has conducted an impressive number of concerts (more than 1500) with symphony and opera orchestras of great renown (more than 150).
The long list of orchestras includes:
Berliner Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Verdi, Trieste, RAI: Roma, Milano, Torino; La Fenice Orchestra, Venezia, Teatro di Genova, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, RSO Berlin, WDR Köln, SDR Stuttgart, NDR Hamburg, Orchester der Beethovenhalle, Bonn, Dresdner Philharmonie, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Tivoli Symfoniorkester, Copenhagen; Malmö Symfoni Orkester, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Hilversum, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra London, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Opéra de Marseille, Zagreb Philharmonic, Orchestra dell?Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Orquesta Ciudad de Barcelona, Orchestra Nacional de Espańa, Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Tonkunstlerorchester in Wien, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquesta Nacional de México, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich. Bergen Philharmonic, Radio Symfonie de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife, Kansai Philharmonic (Osaka), Bamberger Symphoniker, National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig.

Antoni Wit's outstanding interpretations include a number of first world performances of Polish music:
1974 Jan Oleszkiewicz, Concerto grosso (Warsaw)
1980 Krzysztof Penderecki, Te Deum (Sandomierz)
1980 Krzysztof Penderecki Lacrimosa (Cracow)
1981 Krzysztof Penderecki Agnus Dei (Warsaw)
1982 Bronislaw K. Przybylski, A Varsovie (Graz)
1983 Wojciech Kilar, Victoria (Katowice)
1983 Aleksander Lason, Mountains (Warsaw)
1984 Wojciech Kilar, Angelus (Katowice)
1990 Wojciech Kilar, Choral Prelude (Katowice)
1993 Krzysztof Meyer, Carillon (Flensburg)
1994 Jacek Domagala, Choralis (Berlin)
1994 Stanislaw Krupowicz, Fin de siécle (Warsaw)
1995 Pawel Szymanski, Piano Concerto (Paris)
1995 Wlodzimierz Kotonski, Symphonia No. 1 (Warsaw)
1996 Eugeniusz Knapik, La liberta chiama la liberta (Warsaw)
1996 Tadeusz Wielecki, "Id" for Orchestra (Warsaw)
1996 Andrzej Dziadek, Impression (Katowice)
1996 Eugeniusz Knapik, Up into the Silence (Copenhagen)
2002 Krzysztof Meyer, Concerto for Clarinet (Duisburg)
2002 Maciej Jablonski, Symphony No. 4 (Warsaw)

Antoni Wit's artistic productions, recorded on more than a hundred records by many recognised record companies, have been highly appraised by listeners. This recognition is reflected in many awards and certificates of merit.
Awards and certificates of merit:
Artistic
1982 - award of the Polish Composers' Association for total achievement
1983 - award of the President of the Radio and Television Committee for outstanding artistic achievement
1984, 1996 - "Orpheus" awards of the Critics section of the Association of Polish Music Artists for the best rendering of Polish music at the "Warsaw Autumn" Festival
1985 - certificate of merit awarded by British critics for the recording of Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater (record of the year - EMI)
1987 - award of the President of the Radio and Television Committee for the popularisation of music on Polish Television and for artistic achievements with the WOSPRiTV
1991 - award of the President of the City of Katowice "for outstanding artistic achievement and for making Katowice famous throughout the world"
1992 - award of Katowice television "for creative co-operation"
1993 - "Diapason d'Or" and "Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque '92" for recording the complete piano concertos of Serge Prokofiev (for Naxos)
1996 - "Diapason d'Or" and "Grand Prix du Disque" for the CD recording of Witold Lutoslawski's music
1998 - "Diamond Baton" - individual award of the Executive Board of Polish radio "for outstanding artistic productions, extolling Polish music at home and abroad, and its popularisation among millions of listeners of Polish Radio"
1999 - "Platinum Laurel of Skill and Competence" for 1998 (together with NOSPR)
2002 - "Cannes Classical Award" - awarded at MIDEM in Cannes for Olivier Messiaen's Tarungalila-Symphonie, recorded with NOSPR for Naxos
2002 - Gold Medal awarded by the Artur Rubinstein Foundation

National and other awards
1972 - Honorary medal of the City of Poznan
1976 - Medal for outstanding merits for the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship
1980 - Silver Cross of Merit
1980 - Award of the President of the City of Cracow
1982 - Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs "for popularising Polish music abroad"
1985 - "Meritorious Cultural Activist" Medal
1985 - Knight's Cross of the Order of Polish Revival

In addition to his intensive conducting activities, Antoni Wit also teaches. At first he gave occasional master courses (e.g., the international master course, Zlin, Czech Republic 1993).
Since 1998 he has been teaching a conducting class at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Three AMFC graduates have studied conducting under Professor Wit.
In 1998 the Polish President conferred the title of professor of Music Arts on Antoni Wit.
This outstanding conductor is also invited to sit on competition juries. He has been a juror at the International Conducting Competition in Katowice (1983, 1987, 1999) and in Cadaques (1998).

Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music