35 Notable Alumni of the Academy of Music of Krakow

Krzysztof Penderecki

Born in: Poland
Years: 1933-2020 (aged 87)
Enrolled in the Academy of Music of Krakow: Studied in 1954-1958
Occupations: violinistmusic educatorpedagogueconductorcomposer
Biography: Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, his St Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. His oeuvre includes five operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works.

Abel Korzeniowski

Born in: Poland
Years: 1972-.. (age 53)
Occupations: composerfilm score composer
Biography: Abel Korzeniowski is a Polish composer of film and theatre scores.

Tomasz Stańko

Born in: Poland
Years: 1942-2018 (aged 76)
Occupations: film score composertrumpetercomposerrecording artist
Biography: Tomasz Ludwik Stańko was a Polish trumpeter and composer associated with free jazz and the avant-garde.

Wacław Kiełtyka

Born in: Poland
Years: 1981-.. (age 44)
Occupations: musicianpianist
Biography: Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka is a Polish musician, best known as the guitarist of the death metal band Decapitated. In addition to Decapitated, Wacław has been the guitarist of Lux Occulta since 1998, as well as a former member of the Kraków group Sceptic. He also worked with the death metal band Vader. He is a graduate of musical school in the first and second degree, and attended the Academy of Music in Kraków as an accordionist.

Andrzej Lampert

Born in: Poland
Years: 1981-.. (age 44)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Andrzej Lampert is a Polish singer, opera singer (tenor), composer, lyricist, arranger and music co-producer for his band PIN.

Zbigniew Fil

Born in: Poland
Years: 1977-.. (age 48)
Occupations: singer
Biography: Zbigniew Fil is a Polish singer and multi-instrumentalist.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1923-2017 (aged 94)
Occupations: composerconductor
Biography: Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer.

Adam Harasiewicz

Born in: Poland
Years: 1932-.. (age 93)
Occupations: composerpianist
Biography: Adam Harasiewicz is a Polish classical concert pianist.

Halina Czerny-Stefańska

Born in: Poland
Years: 1922-2001 (aged 79)
Occupations: composerpianistmusic educator
Biography: Halina Czerny-Stefańska was a Polish pianist.

Bogusław Schaeffer

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1929-2019 (aged 90)
Occupations: graphic artistdramaturgeplaywrightmusicologistcomposer
Biography: Bogusław Julian Schaeffer was a Polish composer, musicologist, and graphic artist, a member of the avantgarde "Cracow Group" of Polish composers alongside Krzysztof Penderecki and others.

Jan Wróblewski

Born in: Poland
Years: 1936-2024 (aged 88)
Occupations: musiciancomposerjazz musicianauthorsaxophonist
Biography: Jan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski was a Polish jazz musician, composer and arranger. He played the tenor and baritone saxophones.

Zygmunt Konieczny

Born in: Poland
Years: 1937-.. (age 88)
Enrolled in the Academy of Music of Krakow: Studied in 1956-1962
Occupations: composer
Biography: Zygmunt Konieczny is a Polish composer of theatre and film music.

Anna Kerth

Born in: Poland
Years: 1980-.. (age 45)
Occupations: audiobook narratorfilm actoractor
Biography: Anna Kerth is a Polish actress who starred in BBC Scotland's soap opera River City as Lena Krausky in 2006/2007. In Poland she is mostly known for being part of the main cast in the popular soap opera Na Wspólnej.

Krzysztof Meyer

Born in: Poland
Years: 1943-.. (age 82)
Occupations: composermusic educatoruniversity teacherpianistmusicologist
Biography: Krzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist, and music scholar, formerly dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music (now Academy of Music in Kraków), and president of the Polish Composers' Union (1985–1989). Meyer was professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne from 1987 to 2008, before his retirement.

Marzena Diakun

Born in: Poland
Years: 1981-.. (age 44)
Occupations: conductor
Biography: Marzena Diakun is a Polish conductor.

Witold Rowicki

Born in: Russia
Years: 1914-1989 (aged 75)
Occupations: music educatorconductor
Biography: Witold Rowicki was a Polish conductor. He held principal conducting positions with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra was dedicated to him.

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati

Born in: Poland
Years: 1919-1994 (aged 75)
Occupations: composergraphic artistuniversity teacherdesignergraphic designer
Biography: Roman Haubenstock - since 1943 Roman Haubenstock-Ramati was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna.

Mendi Mengjiqi

Years: 1958-.. (age 67)
Occupations: composermusician
Biography: Mendi Mengjiqi is a Kosovar composer and the author of the Kosovar national anthem.

Elżbieta Towarnicka

Born in: Poland
Years: 1950-.. (age 75)
Occupations: opera singeractor
Biography: Elżbieta Towarnicka is a Polish operatic soprano who made an international career based at the Opera Krakowska. She is also known for singing for films, especially with music by Zbigniew Preisner including the theme song of Avalon.

Daniel Stabrawa

Born in: Poland
Years: 1955-.. (age 70)
Occupations: concertmasterviolinistconductor
Biography: Daniel Stabrawa is a Polish violinist and conductor.

Regina Smendzianka

Born in: Poland
Years: 1924-2011 (aged 87)
Occupations: composerpianistmusic educator
Biography: Regina Smendzianka was a Polish pianist.

Jerzy Semkow

Born in: Poland
Years: 1928-2014 (aged 86)
Occupations: conductor
Biography: Jerzy Semkow was a Polish conductor.

Andrzej Dobber

Born in: Poland
Years: 1961-.. (age 64)
Occupations: opera singerperforming artist
Biography: Andrzej Dobber is a Polish baritone, honored with the title of Kammersänger by the Senate of the City of Hamburg and awarded the silver medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis by the Polish Minister of Culture.

Stefania Woytowicz

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1922-2005 (aged 83)
Occupations: opera singersinger
Biography: Stefania Woytowicz was a Polish concert soprano. Woytowicz was the soprano soloist in the first public performance of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), and sang the part on the first recordings of the symphony.

Edyta Piasecka

Born in: Poland
Years: 1972-.. (age 53)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Edyta Piasecka, also known by her married name Edyta Piasecka-Chudzikiewicz, is a Polish soprano. She has been a resident artist at Opera Krakowska since 2002; a position she remains in as of 2024.

Piotr Orzechowski

Born in: Poland
Years: 1990-.. (age 35)
Occupations: composerjazz musicianpianist
Biography: Piotr Orzechowski, also known by his stage name Pianohooligan, is a Polish jazz pianist and composer. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Valencia and a winner of the Montreux Jazz Piano Competition and Jazz Hoeilaart, hailed by the critics as "the most creative and uncompromising young Polish jazz artist."

Oleksandr Shchetynsky

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1960-.. (age 65)
Occupations: music educatorcomposer
Biography: Alexander Shchetynsky is a Ukrainian composer. Born on 22 June 1960 in Kharkiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. His work list includes compositions in various forms ranging from solo instrumental to orchestral, choral pieces and operas.

Jan Emanuel Abras

Born in: Sweden
Years: 1975-.. (age 50)
Occupations: composermusicologistconductor
Biography: Juan Manuel Abras Contel is a classical music composer, conductor, musicologist and historian from Sweden. Born in Stockholm to a European family (French, Italian, etc.) that moved around the world, Abras became a cosmopolitan artist and scientist.

Dominik Wania

Born in: Poland
Years: 1981-.. (age 44)
Occupations: pianist
Biography: Dominik Wania is a Polish pianist and composer.

Jan Hoffman

Born in: Poland
Years: 1906-1995 (aged 89)
Occupations: music educatorpianist
Biography: Jan Hoffman was a Polish pianist and music educator.

Władysława Markiewiczówna

Born in: Poland
Years: 1900-1982 (aged 82)
Occupations: music educatorpianist
Biography: Władysława Markiewiczówna was a Polish pianist and renowned educator.

Anna Brożek

Born in: Poland
Years: 1980-.. (age 45)
Occupations: university teachermusicianpianistphilosopher
Biography: Anna Magdalena Brożek is a Polish philosopher and musician.

Ryszard Szeremeta

Born in: Poland
Years: 1952-.. (age 73)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Ryszard Szeremeta is a Polish composer of experimental music, producer of recordings, concerts and performances of electroacoustic music, jazz singer.

Marek Stachowski

Born in: Poland
Years: 1936-2004 (aged 68)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Marek Stachowski was a Polish composer. He received many awards and won many competitions for composers, including first prize at the K. Szymanowski Competition in 1974.

Gabriela Moyseowicz

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1944-.. (age 81)
Occupations: composerpianist
Biography: Gabriela Maria Moyseowicz is a Polish composer and pianist.