Professor FCUM Wacław Golonka, DMus Hab.

Pro­fes­sor at the Fry­deryk Chopin Uni­ver­sity of Music in War­saw, obtained his post-doctoral degree at the Acad­emy of Music in Cra­cow. He com­pleted higher edu­ca­tion in music at the Acad­emy of Music in Cra­cow and Hochschule für Musik und Darstel­lende Kunst in Vienna, class of Pro­fes­sor Hans Hasel­böck. He obtained his uni­ver­sity diplo­mas in the field of organ play­ing with honours.

He is a prize-winner of organ com­pe­ti­tions in Prague (sec­ond prize), Nurem­berg (third prize) and Pre­to­ria, where in addi­tion to the first prize he received the fol­low­ing awards: for the best per­for­mance of the trio sonata by J.S. Bach, for the best recital in the third round of the competi­tion, and for the best per­for­mance of a piece with an orches­tra in the final round of the competition.

His con­cert activ­ity led him to Asia, Africa, North Amer­ica and many Euro­pean coun­tries. He has per­formed in many Euro­pean cathe­drals (e.g. in Vienna, Chartres, Lau­sanne), in con­cert halls of the War­saw Phil­har­monic, Berliner Phil­har­monie, Not­ting Albert Hall, Meis­tersinger­halle in Nurem­berg, Cleve­land Museum of Art, hall of the Aus­trian radio ORF in Vienna, Slo­vak Radio in Bratislava and repeat­edly in the B. Smetana hall in Prague. In 1997 he gave a series of con­certs in the USA, he also went on three tours across the Repub­lic of South Africa per­form­ing in major music cen­tres of that country.

Wacław Golonka per­formed as a soloist with orches­tras: Radio Phil­har­mony Orches­tra in Pre­to­ria, Byd­goszcz Phil­har­monic, Brno Phil­har­monic, Prague’s FOK, Con­certo Avenna, Biel­sko Cham­ber Orches­tra, Capella Cra­covien­sis and Sile­sian Cham­ber Orches­tra. With the orches­tra Con­certo Avenna he recorded an organ con­certo by Paweł Łukaszewski. The record­ing was included on the album with pieces by this com­poser, which received the “Fry­deryk 2008″ award.

He has made numer­ous record­ings for TV and radio sta­tions. His record­ing for TV Polo­nia illus­trated the series of films “Pol­ish Madon­nas” and in 1998 the TV Katow­ice made a film about his activ­ity enti­tled “The Music of Sound and Space”. Record­ings made ​​by the Czech Radio are pre­sented on the Euro­pean EBU net­work. The Czech Radio has also released CD record­ings. Later on he recorded for the Dutch radio Hil­ver­sum, Ger­man Bay­erischer Rund­funk, Aus­trian ORF, Slo­vak Radio and Czech Television.

As a cham­ber musi­cian he col­lab­o­rates with many artists pre­sent­ing music from all peri­ods and styles. A wide field of his activ­ity is work related to the orga­ni­za­tion of music fes­ti­vals. He is an author of a CD record­ing and a book enti­tled Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) – in the Ele­ment of Sound Colourism.

Eight CD albums with cham­ber and solo music doc­u­ment his var­ied artis­tic activity.

He has con­ducted lec­tures, among other insti­tu­tions, at acad­e­mies of music in Gdańsk and Poz­nań, Hochschule für Musik und The­ater in Leipzig, and dur­ing a course of organ music inter­pre­ta­tion in St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.

Wacław Golonka, DMus Hab. is employed at the FCUM hold­ing the post of Pro­fes­sor at the Chair of Organ and Harpsichord.