Professor Ryszard Cieśla

Prorec­tor for Teach­ing Affairs

Grad­u­ate of the Fry­deryk Chopin Acad­emy of Music in War­saw. Soloist of Teatr Wielki — National Opera in War­saw from 1983 to this day. Mem­ber of “Bor­nus Con­sort” ancient music ensem­ble in 1983–87. Win­ner of the sec­ond prize at the Inter­na­tional Singing Com­pe­ti­tion in ‘s-Hertogenbosh, Hol­land in 1986. He was awarded a Min­istry of Cul­ture and Art schol­ar­ship to study at Hochschule für Music und Darstel­lend Kunst in Vienna in 1988–89. Pro­fes­sor at the Fry­deryk Chopin Uni­ver­sity of Music in War­saw. Dean of the Vocal Depart­ment in 2005–2008. He is prorec­tor for Teach­ing Affairs for term 2008–2012.

Artis­tic Direc­tor of the Romuald Traugutt Phil­har­monic, a patri­otic soci­ety founded in 1983 by Tadeusz Kaczyński, musi­col­o­gist and music critic. Organ­iser and artis­tic direc­tor of the Romuald Traugutt Phil­har­monic Fes­ti­vals: the Pas­sion Fes­ti­val “Cru­ci­fixus est?”, the Fes­ti­val of Songs of Pol­ish Com­posers, the Fes­ti­val of Euro­pean Songs and the Fes­ti­val of Pol­ish Poetry.

In 1997 POLCUL FOUNDATION, the Inde­pen­dent Foun­da­tion for the Sup­port of Pol­ish Cul­ture in Aus­tralia, awarded him for the work of the Phil­har­monic. Ryszard Cieśla has directed sev­eral musi­cal spectacles:

• “The song will sur­vive …” and “The not so haunted manor” (Rep­re­sen­ta­tional Band of the Pol­ish Army),
• “Raise your hand, God’s child”, “The chil­dren of War­saw”, “Koś­ciuszko, look down upon us from heaven” and “Wel­come, May dawn” (Romuald Traugutt Philharmonic),
• “Orpheus and Eury­dice in Rain­bow Land” (New The­atre and Jew­ish Theatre).

He has made archival record­ings of the songs of Moniuszko, Paderewski, Szy­manowski, Schu­bert, Schu­mann, Mahler, Strauss and Ravel for Pol­ish Radio. In 1998 he recorded a series of songs from the period of regain­ing of inde­pen­dence (with the Traugutt Phil­har­monic) and was also musi­cal direc­tor of the record­ing (Hard Record Studio).