Artistic Director of the Polish Radio Choir – Lusławice
O artyście
Choirmaster, educator and organiser of cultural activities.
Maria Piotrowska-Bogalecka graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice (in choral conducting in the class of Beata Borowska) and the Academy of Music in Cracow (music theory). She also studied at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. She has been developing her conducting skills at courses both in Poland and abroad (Eric Ericson Masterclass in Haarlem, International Kodály Seminar in Kecskemet and Studium Chorale Masterclass for Choral Conductors in Maastricht). She won the 1st prize, as well as the E. Maćkowiak special prize for the best choral rehearsal technique, in the 9th National Competition for Choral Conductors in Poznań. She has received numerous scholarships from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the prize of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodship.
Since September 2017, she has been working as a choirmaster for the Polish Radio Choir, and since 2018 – also as its artistic director. With the choir, she has conducted over a hundred concerts in Poland and abroad, including at such international festivals as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Prague Spring, Festival Semana Religiosa de Cuenca, Sv Jocobo Festival in Vilnius, Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum and Misteria Paschalia. Together with the Polish Radio Choir, she has performed several dozen world premieres of compositions by: J. Wnuk-Nazarowa, A. Zubel, A. Nowak, P. Mykietyn, S. Kupczak, P. Łukaszewski, P. Tabakiernik, D. Fujikura and Sz. Godziemba-Trytek, registering them for Polish Radio. She has also prepared and recorded several albums with this ensemble, winning a Fryderyk in 2021 and a number of nominations for this award.
Maria Piotrowska-Bogalecka has been working as a lecturer at the Choral Conducting Department of the Academy of Music in Katowice, where she obtained the title of Habilitated Doctor of Musical Arts in 2023. Author of the book entitled Decorum et varietas on psalms in vocal and vocal and instrumental music of Polish Baroque. In 2016–2018, she conducted the Chamber Choir of the Academy of Music in Katowice. She is also founder and artistic director of the Contento Core Vocal Ensemble.