Tadeusz Szeligowski
Poznań, 7-11 december 2022
Piano Competition Tadeusz Szeligowski was established on November 8-9, 1996 in Poznań, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of T. Szeligowski’s birth. Its originator was a senior lecturer Ditmar Śniechota-Ogłoza from the Academy of Music in Poznań. The competition is nationwide. From the beginning until today, it has been organized by the Poznań Secondary School of Music No. 2 for them. Tadeusz Szeligowski. It does this in cooperation with the Poznań City Hall and the Center for Artistic Education.
In individual years, the Competition slightly changed its assumptions. Initially, the auditions were held in two groups (under 13 and under 15 – the first two editions), with the older group being obliged to perform pieces in two stages. The regulations of the subsequent editions slightly expanded the repertoire requirements for the participants. At the same time, the Competitions, chaired by prof. Anna Wesołowska-Firlej (Academy of Music in Łódź), were held in one stage and within one group (up to the age of 13). From the 7th competition in 2011, the formula of two groups and one stage of auditions was returned. In total, in all editions of the Chopin Piano Competitions T. Szeligowski in Poznań was attended by 273 students of music schools from all over Poland, whose performance – guided by the opinions of the chairman of the jury, prof. Anna Wesołowska-Firla, as well as teachers and observers of the Competition – are assessed as very high.
Tadeusz
Szeligowski
Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1900-1995) studied in the years 1911-17 at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow with Alfred von Glehn (cello). In 1919-23 he continued his studies at the Conservatory in Warsaw in the composition class of Roman Statkowski and conducting with Emil Młynarski, graduating with honors. At the same time, in 1919-21 he worked as a cellist in the orchestra of the Warsaw Opera.
After the war, in 1945-47, he was the rector and professor of conducting at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź. From 1947 to 1952 he was the director and first conductor of the State Philharmonic and Opera in Wrocław, at the same time being a professor of conducting, and in 1950-52 the dean of the 1st Department of the State Higher School of Music in Wrocław. In 1952-57 he was the director of the State Opera and Philharmonic in Gdańsk and a professor at the State Higher School of Music in Sopot. From 1963 he lived in Warsaw, where he was the head of the Department of Chamber Music at the State Higher School of Music.