Chopin University of Music

The Chopin University of Music (Polish: Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina, UMFC[1]), located at ulica Okólnik 2 in central Warsaw, Poland, is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe.[2][3]

Chopin University of Music[1]
Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina
Chopin University of Music
TypePublic
Established1810 (1810)
RectorKlaudiusz Baran
Administrative staff
509
Students898
Address
Okolnik 2 St., 00-368 Warsaw, Poland,
,
Warsaw
,
Poland
CampusUrban
Websitewww.chopin.edu.pl

History
Warsaw Conservatory before the Warsaw Uprising, Okólnik Street

Named for the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (whose birth name was Fryderyk Chopin and who studied there from 1826 to 1829),[3][a] the University dates from the Music School for singers and theatre actors that was founded in 1810 by Wojciech Bogusławski. In 1820 it was transformed by Chopin's subsequent teacher, Józef Elsner, into a more general school of music, the Institute of Music and Declamation; it was then affiliated with the University of Warsaw and, together with the University, was dissolved by Russian imperial authorities during the repressions that followed the November 1830 Uprising. In 1861 it was revived as Warsaw's Institute of Music.[4]

After Poland regained independence in 1918, the Institute was taken over by the Polish state and became known as the Warsaw Conservatory. The institution's old main building was destroyed during World War II, in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, in 1946, the school was recreated as the Higher State School of Music. In 1979 the school assumed the name: Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy.[3] In 2008 the school once again changed its name to the Chopin University of Music.

Buildings
Dziekanka

The main building, at ulica Okólnik 2 in Central Warsaw, was constructed between 1960 and 1966. It contains 62 sound-proof classrooms; a concert hall (486 seats), the Szymanowski Lecture Theater (adapted for film projection; 155 seats), the Melcer Chamber Music Hall (196 seats and a Walcker organ sampled by Piotr Grabowski), the Moniuszko Opera Hall (53 seats), a rhythmics room, three music-recording and sound-track studios, a tuner's studio, a library and reading room, rector's offices, deans' offices, management offices, guest rooms, the GAMA cafeteria, and doctor's and dentist's clinics. There is also a music book shop and antiquarian book shop.

The University also has its own dormitory, Dziekanka, at 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście. The latter has its own 150-seat concert hall.

Structure

The University is divided into the following departments:

  • Department of Symphony and Orchestra Conducting
  • Department of Composition and Theory of Music
  • Department of Instrumental Studies
  • Department of Vocal and Acting Studies
  • Department of Choir Conducting and Choir Studies, Music Education and Rhythmics
  • Department of Sound Engineering
  • Department of Church Music
  • Department of Dance
  • Department of Jazz and Stage Music
  • Department of Instrumental and Educational Studies, Music Education and Vocal Studies in Białystok

Directors and rectors

Doctors honoris causa

Notable professors

Notable students

Competitions

The University organizes the following music competitions:

  • the Tadeusz Wronski International Solo Violin Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs T. Wrońskiego na Skrzypce Solo)
  • an International Organ Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Organowy)
  • the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Klawesynowy im. W. Landowskiej)
  • the Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition (Międzynarodowy Konkurs Wiolonczelowy im. W. Lutosławskiego)

Orchestras

The University has two orchestras: a symphony orchestra, and the Chopin University Orchestra, as well as a choir.

Notes

a ^ Since at that time the Warsaw Conservatory was affiliated with Warsaw University's Art Department, Chopin is also counted among the University's alumni.

Citations
  1. Statut Uniwersytetu Muzycznego Fryderyka Chopina.
  2. Fryderyk Chopin University of Music Archived May 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at the International Chopin Information Center
  3. (in Polish) Akademia Muzyczna w Warszawie, Encyklopedia WIEM
  4. The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music at Culture.pl (in English)
  5. "Moshe Vilensky". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved July 31, 2011.

References

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