Chair of Choral Conducting

The Chair of Choir Conducting was established in April 1976. The Chair was headed by Professor Jozef Bok until October 1999. For the 3 years (1999-2002) it was headed by Professor Andrzej Banasiewicz, and next 3 years by Krzysztof Kusiel-Moroz (acting). It is now headed by Professor Ryszard Zimak.

When the Chair was established the examination criteria for applicants for conducting were developed. Special attention was paid to such problems as the timbre of the vocal ensemble, interpretation of vocal and vocal-instrumental pieces representing different historical periods. Two problem units were also developed: voice and score reading. The Chair convened at plenary meeting and also organised open meetings which eventually evolved into National Meetings of Conducting Pedagogues. At these meetings the following problems were discussed: methods of examining applicants, terminology in the work of the conductor, different interpretations of the same pieces, repertory choice in the training of conductors, expression of conductor gestures, the rendering of mediaeval monodies and Renaissance and baroque choir music. The profile of activities of the Chair of Choir Conducting was shaped to a large extent by the considerable interest in such aspects of vocal ensembles as timbre, interpretation and conducting technique as well as psychological relations between the conductor and members of the choir.

Many outstanding choirmasters presented lectures at Chair meetings, e.g., Janusz Dzieciol, Stanislaw Kulczynski, Stefan Stuligrosz, Jadwiga Galeska-Tritt, Jozef Bok, Antoni Szalinski, Henryk Wojnarowski, Ryszard Zimak.

In February 1996 the Chair of Choir Conducting celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The celebrations ended with a concert of choir music by Claudio Monteverdi sung by students of the AMFC Department of Music Education and conducted by Wolfgang Bruneder from Vienna.

In 1996-1999 Professor Ryszard Zimak was the acting head of the Chair. He led to the presentation of a cycle of concerts entitled "Interpretations of Choir Music". At these concerts several different choir ensembles presented an interesting repertoire in a variety of styles. The cycle was very popular with the Warsaw public.

One of the major events in the history of the Chair was the establishment of the Chair of Choir Conducting at the AMFC Bialystok Branch in October 1998 with professor Violetta Bielecka as Head.

The Third Festival of Music School Choirs from the Warsaw Region was organised in Ciechanow in April 1999 in co-operation with the Centre for Artistic Education. The winners of the main prizes were graduates of the AMFC Department of Music Education.

Chair Members:
Professor Ryszard Zimak - Head of the Chair
Professor Andrzej Banasiewicz
Professor Bogdan Gola
Professor Kazimierz Reverend Szymonik, Ph. D.
Krzysztof Kusiel-Moroz, Professor AMFC
Ewa Marchwicka, Ph.D., Professor AMFC
Assistant Professor Katarzyna Sokolowska, D.A. Hab.
Assistant Professor Wanda Tchorzewska-Kapala, D.A. Hab.
Assistant Professor Jaroslaw Wroblewski
Assistant Anna Perzanowska-Tarasiuk
Assistant Dariusz Zimnicki

Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music