The Ludomir Różycki 1st and 2nd degree State Music School in Gliwice

The music school in Gliwice was established in year 1945. It is located in beautiful and spacious neoclassic villa surrounded by a small park. The school building is situated in the city centre, few minute walk from the Town Hall and the monumental market square.

The Ludomir Różycki 1st and 2nd degree State Music School in Gliwice is a public school. The City of Gliwice is an authority running the school and the pedagogic supervision is performed by the Artistic Education Centre at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Warsaw.

Education in the school is performed at two levels:

1st degree education in 6-year cycle (for 6 – 10 year old children) and in 4-year cycle (for 11 – 16 year old teenagers).
2nd degree education in the instrumental department (6 years) and vocal department (4 years).
The 1st degree school is a school cultivating the love of music, developing musical skills and interests of pupils as well as preparing them for conscious participation in music life.
Its graduates – after passing introductory exams – may continue education in the 2nd degree school, which is a professional school. The graduates of the 2nd degree music school gain a profession of musician instrumentalist or musician vocalist. They are prepared for continuation of education in music academies or in music studies at universities in Poland or abroad.

Professor Jan Ballarin is a director of the Gliwice school continuously since 1997, he is a graduate of the Vocal Department of the State Secondary Music School in Gliwice and the State Higher Music School in Katowice, an outstanding artist of opera and operetta scenes. Simultaneously professor Ballarin is a lecturer of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and a member of its Senate. 79 teachers are employed in the Gliwice school, all of them are greatly educated music artists and high class professionals in their subject areas. Many of them work in the best Silesian orchestras and professor Krystyna Moszyńska – the piano teacher – was awarded on 26th May 2006 with GLORIA ARTIS medal – the highest national distinction in culture.

3 700 persons graduated from the school within 60 years of its existence. Among them there are many outstanding soloists, conductors, members of famous orchestras and artistic ensembles as well as lecturers of higher schools – in Poland and abroad.

Some of them are mentioned below:
pianists:
Maria Szwajger – Kułakowska , Joanna Domańska, Katarzyna Rzeszutek, Teresa Kaban, Wojciech Kocyan
violinists:
Aureliusz Błaszczok, Ilona Cudek, Jacek Ropski, Wojciech Proniewicz
violoncellists:
Józef Gomolka, Franciszek Skóra
singers:
Stanisława Marciniak – Gowarzewska, Michalina Growiec, Wacława Pięta – Rann, Maria Mosur – Ćwikowska, Ewa Kornas – Biegas, Jan Ballarin, Jerzy Kubit
brass instruments:
Jan Hawryszków, Jerzy Hawryszków, Jerzy Sojka
guitarists:
Piotr Zieliński, Dariusz Kupiński, Jakub Lubina
popular music artists:
Grażyna Świtała, Stanisław Sojka, Edward Spyrka, Norbert Blacha, Maciej Malisz, Katarzyna Groniec
composers:
Jerzy Chruściński, Jakub Sarwas, Aleksander Nowak, Gabriela Moysewicz, Jarosław Mamczarski, Krzysztof Zgraja
conductors:
Antoni Wicherek, Jan Wojtacha, Jacek Mentel, Krystyna Krzyżanowska – Łoboda, Henryk Wicherek, Tadeusz Wicherek
actors:
Katarzyna Jamróz, Magdalena Kumorek, Wojciech Pszoniak
teachers in academies of music:
prof. Michalina Growiec – many year dean of the Vocal and Drama Department of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
prof. Stanisława Marciniak – Gowarzewska – the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
prof. Maria Szwajger – Kułakowska – chairman of the Department of Chamber Music of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
prof. Joanna Domańska – deputy dean’s of the Vocal – Instrumental Department of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
prof. Leon Markiewicz – former rector of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
assistant prof. Jacek Mentel – Academy of Music in Cracow,
prof. Jan Wojtacha – chairman of Choral Department, former dean of Department of Music Education of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
prof. Jan Ballarin – many year dean of Vocal – Drama Department, at present the director of Vocal – Drama Institute of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
assistant prof. Krystyna Krzyżanowska – Łoboda – the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
Barbara Łankowska – Guzy, Ph.D. – the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
Wojciech Kocyan, Ph.D. – professor of Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles USA,
assistant prof. Andrzej Schmidt – former dean of Jazz and Popular Music Department of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
Norbert Blacha, MA – the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
Marcin Trzęsiok, MA – the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,
Jacek Ropski – assistant in Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław.

For many years teachers and students of the school have been initiating, organizing and taking part in many concerts for Gliwice and its inhabitants. The concert „Gliwiczanie – Gliwiczanom” (From Gliwice inhabitants for Gliwice inhabitants) is the most important and summarizing an annual work of students event taking place annually during the Gliwice Spring – an artistic feast of the city in May. The school presented its music ensembles and soloists twice during the concert „Young musicians for Gliwice inhabitants”. A young audience welcomed with great enthusiasm: the big-band and brass orchestra conducted by professor Joachim Nowak.

The Ludomir Różycki Vocal Contest organized every two years became pride of the Gliwice school, it is directed to students of vocal sections of 2nd degree music schools and its purpose is to bring closer and popularize the beautiful but still unappreciated song output of Ludomir Różycki, a representative of the Young Poland movement in music, a composer since 1945 connected with Silesia and a patron of the 1st and 2nd degree State Music School in Gliwice. The Ludomir Różycki Vocal Contest is organized under auspices of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The next contest will take place in year 2009.

FOR OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL YOU MAY CONTACT:

1/ in English – Ms. Dorota Zawada tel. (+48 32) 279 53 03
e-mail: dorotazawada1@tlen.pl
2/ in German – Mr Marcin Trzęsiok tel.(+48 32) 235 23 71
e-mail: marcin.trzesiok@gmail.com