ANTONI WIT was born on 7 February 1944 in Krakow. A graduate of Kraków’s State Higher School of Music in conducting under Henryk Czyż and composition under Krzysztof Penderecki, and in 1969 graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Later, he was a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. When Wit’s studies were complete, Witold Rowicki retained him as an assistant at the National Philharmonic. In 1971, he placed second in the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Contest in West Berlin, which has opened the door for his international career. He has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Roma), the St. Peterburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Later assumed the post of director of the Orchestra and Choir of Polish Radio and Television in Kraków (1977-83) and Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra of Katowice (1983–2000). In 2002, became the managing and artistic director of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. He has also worked with Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in the period 2010-2017 as their principal guest conductor, and in May 2013, the Pamplona-based ensemble nominated him for artistic director.

Antoni Wit’s rather extensive discography (including recordings for Naxos) comprises works by Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven (all piano concertos), Johannes Brahms, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Antonin Dvořák, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Wojciech Kilar, Witold Lutosławski (complete symphonies), Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Meyer, Felix Mendelsohn, Olivier Messiaen, Krzysztof Penderecki (complete symphonies) Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Camille Saint-Sans, Bedřich Smetana, Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, Karol Szymanowski (complete symphonies), Frederic Chopin, Dmitry Shostakovich, Robert Schumann (all symphonies). Winner of the awards Diapason d’Or and Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Académie (1983) for the recording of the complete piano concertos of Sergei Prokofiev, Classical Award (Midem Classique 2002) for recording the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen, he has made a total of 200 recordings for labels such as EMI, CBS, Decca, Naxos, among them the celebrated recording of Alpensynfonie by Richard Strauss with the Weimar Staatskapelle. He has performed a number of world premieres which include works by Penderecki and Wojciech Kilar – Kilar’s September Symphony was dedicated to the conductor. For his outstanding artistic activity and effort at popularization of Polish music in the country and abroad, the Polish Radio honoured the artist with the Brilliant Baton.

It is a curious detail that Antoni Wit majored in law but later decided to change his profession, realizing that he had to connect his life with music. For a while he worked with the great Austrian conductor Herbert von Karayan, about whom he recalls:

Karajan was extremely hardworking fellow, and musicians respected him for being able to work for ten hours in succession. As an assistant to his symphonic concerts and opera performances, I have gained colossal experience. I remember, once Maestro Karajan was being late for a rehearsal and I ventured to take responsibility and start the rehearsal on my own. When he entered the hall with considerable delay, he didn’t stop me, but listened closely and allowed me to se the rehearsal through to the end.”

Antoni Wit was nominated seven times for the Grammy Award for his recordings of the music of Krzysztof Penderecki and Karol Szymanowski. He received a Grammy Award in 2013 for recording of Penderecki’s Fonogrammi, Horn Concerto, Partita, The Awakening of Jacob and Anaklasis for Naxos.

As a guest conductor of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, he performed for Bulgarian audiences remarkable works by contemporary Polish composers, such as the Concerto for Orchestra by Lutosławski and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Mieczysław Karłowicz (2018), the symphonic poem Stanislaw and Anna Oswiecimowie by Mieczysław Karłowicz and Krzesany by Wojciech Kilar (2020).

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