Antoni Wit

Antoni Wit is regarded as one of the greatest Polish conductors of all time. He studied with some of the most distinguished musical figures of his generation: conducting under Henryk Czyż, graduating with honours in 1967, and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki. He further refined his compositional skills under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1967-1968). Antoni Wit is also a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Jagiellonian University.

He began his conducting career in 1967 as assistant to Witold Rowicki at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. Three years later, he was appointed conductor of the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra and the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. In 1971, he won Second Prize at the prestigious Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin and subsequently became assistant conductor to the competition’s patron at the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Throughout his distinguished career, he has appeared on the world’s most prestigious stages, conducting many of the finest orchestras and musical institutions, including Berliner Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Verdi (Trieste), the orchestras of RAI in Rome, Milan and Turin, La Fenice Orchestra (Venice), Teatro di Genova, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, RSO Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, SDR Stuttgart, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, Dresdner Philharmonie, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Tivolis Symfoniorkester (Copenhagen), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Opéra de Marseille, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, and MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, among many others.

Maestro Wit has also made an extraordinary contribution to the recording industry, producing more than 200 albums. He is among the very few classical musicians whose recordings have sold in excess of five million copies worldwide. Nominated for the Grammy Award seven times, he received the prize in 2013 for his recording of works by Krzysztof Penderecki released by Naxos. His recordings have consistently attracted international acclaim and earned numerous prestigious distinctions, including the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Académie (1983), the Cannes Classical Award (2002), the Classical Internet Award (2004), and the Record Academy Award (2005), among many others.

From 1983 to 2000, he served as Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, transforming it into one of Poland’s leading orchestras. He has also enjoyed a distinguished career as a pedagogue, mentoring conductors such as Krzysztof Urbański, Michał Dworzyński, Rafał Janiak, and Dawid Runtz. Maestro Antoni Wit is additionally an Honorary Professor of Keimyung University in South Korea.