Jan Miłosz Zarzycki Biography

Jan Miłosz Zarzycki is Managing and Artistic Director of the Witold Lutosławski Chamber Philharmonic in Łomża. He is also a Professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He is a prize winner of international competitions in Italy, Spain and Hungary.

He studied conducting with Marek Pijarowski at the Music Academy in Wrocław, gaining a diploma with distinction in 1994. He continued his studies in Vienna and Berlin, under the guidance of such famous conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur and Claudio Abbado. Before taking up conducting, he had graduated in violin performance from the Music Academy in Katowice (in 1990) and won several awards at violin competitions. He also finished Post-graduate Studies for Artists and Culture Animators at the Department of Management of Warsaw University.

In 1988 he became Music Director of the Jeunesses Musicales Student Chamber Orchestra at the Music Academy in Katowice, and in 1992-1993 he worked closely with the State Opera in Wrocław. He was one of the two First Prize winners at the First Witold Lutosławski National Conductors’ Competition in Białystok in 1994, receiving also three special awards (including the Award from the Orchestra). Having won Third Prize at the 7th Arturo Toscanini International Conductors’ Competition in Parma in 1997, he was invited to conduct the Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra of Emilia Romagna on a tour of Italy.

He has worked with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Warsaw Chamber Opera. In 1999 he was nominated the lecturer and a member of Conducting Faculty at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. From this time on, he has also been conducting International Youth Music Workshop in Szczecin (as its artistic director and conductor). In 2004 he won the competition for the post of the head and artistic manager of Łomża Chamber Orchestra.

He has conducted all of Poland’s symphony orchestras. Foreign tours have taken him to Germany, France, Austria, Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Macedonia, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Lebanon, Spain, Norway, Belgium, Lithuania and Belarus. So far, he has recorded 21 albums, one of which won the Fryderyk Award 2019 of the Polish recording industry, seven of which won a nomination to the Fryderyk Award and three to International Classical Music Awards. He also recorded the DVD Vistula Landscapes.

He has been a jury member of international music competitions, among others: European Union Conducting Competition (2018), International Conducting Competition Città di Brescia-Giancarlo Facchinetti (2019, 2021), Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition (2020), I Concurso Internacional de Dirección de Orquesta „Universidad de Almería” (2021).

His honours include a Special Award from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in recognition of the invaluable contribution to Polish musical culture (2008) and a diploma for his outstanding achievements in the preservation of Chopin’s legacy (2011 and 2013). Furthermore, in 2013 he was honoured with Medal for Merit to Culture – Bronze Gloria Artis Medal, Podlaskie Voivodeship Marshal’s Award for extraordinary achievements in the field of artistic creation, popularisation and preservation of culture and the President of the Lomza Award for special achievements in the field of culture. In 2014 by the decision of the Polish president, Jan Miłosz Zarzycki has become the Professor of Musical Arts. In 2023 he was honoured with Silver Gloria Artis Medal.