REGULATIONS 

WARSAW WIND BAND CONDUCTING COMPETITION 2023 

1. The Ensemblage Foundation is the organizer of the Competition.

2. The Competition is open to wind band conductors without age or nationality restrictions.

3. Entering the Competition is tantamount to acceptance of these Regulations.

4. Participants of the Competition are required to pay the entry fee of 50 Euros by October 20, 2023 to the bank account number of the Ensemblage Foundation (video preselection): 

BIC/SWIFT PKOPPLPWXXX

IBAN PL79 1240 6410 1111 0010 6356 6403

Participants are required to submit a video link (max. 10 minutes).

5. The candidate should submit the following items in a single email to wwbcc2023@gmail.com :

• submission of the email with these contents and proof of payment will constitute registration for the competition. 

• name and surname of the participant

• country of origin

• e-mail address

• short artistic curriculum vitae (up to 900 letters)

• confirmation of payment of registration fee

• a link to a video recording presenting the participant's conducting skills

• The recording to which the participant attaches a link in the application form should comply with the following requirements: 

  • a) duration: up to 10 minutes, 

  • b) quality: 720 px or higher, 

  • c) camera positioning: facing the conductor (view from the orchestra perspective)

  • d) recording with wind orchestra is preferred, but recording with other ensembles (symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, choir, two pianos) is also acceptable.

  • e) The recording should be posted on any of the streaming services (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo), as public or non-public, with the condition that each member of the Competition Jury, using the link sent by the participant, will be able to play the video in an unlimited way (e.g. in terms of time, location) and without the necessity to download the video

6. Out of all the applications the Competition Jury will select 20 participants qualified for Stage II of the Competition. Participants qualified for Stage II of the Competition must arrange travel to Warsaw for the dates of Stages II, III, and IV. 

7. The list of participants qualified for Stage II will be announced to the public by 1st November 2023 via the Competition website https://sites.google.com/view/wwbcc-2023

8. In case of qualifying for the second stage of the competition, the participant is required to pay 150 euros. 

• If a participant has not paid the additional entry fee by November 15, 2023, it is tantamount to resignation from participation in Stage II of the Competition. In this case, the Competition Jury has the right to qualify to Stage II a participant of Stage I from the reserve list.

9. The jury will be appointed by the organizers of the Competition.

10. The settlement of the Competition will take place by December 9, 2023.

11. The winners of the Competition will receive diplomas, statuettes, and cash prizes.

12. The Jury may decide on a different distribution of prizes. Decisions of the Jury are final and indisputable.

13. Travel and accommodation costs are covered by the participants. 

14. Information about the Competition is available on the website: https://sites.google.com/view/wwbcc2023

15. Pursuant to Art. 13 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 2016.119.1 of 4 May 2016, hereinafter referred to as GDPR), the Organiser hereby informs that: 

a) The administrator of personal data of the Participants is the Ensemblage Foundation (Fundacja Ensemblage), Apt. 21, 9 Karabeli Street, 01-313 Warsaw. 

b) The controller has appointed a data protection supervisor to supervise the correctness of the processing of personal data of the participants, who may be contacted via e- mail: wwbcc2023@gmail.com

c) Personal data of participants will be processed for the purpose of organizing the Warsaw Wind Band Conducting Competition 2023. 

d) Categories of personal data include: name and surname, e-mail address, date of born, country of origin, biography, photo. 

e) Providing data is voluntary, but necessary for participation in the Competition. 

f) Personal data of participants may be transferred to entities processing personal data at the request of the administrator. 

g) The data will be kept for the period necessary to carry out the tasks of the Competition. 

h) The data of participants shall not be transferred to a third countries or an international organisations. 

i) The participants shall have the right to access the content of their data and the right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, portability, right to object, right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of consent prior to its withdrawal. 

j) Participants have the right to file a complaint with the President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, if they consider that the processing of their personal data violates the regulations of the GDPR (President of the Personal Data Protection Office, ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warsaw). 

k) Data will not be processed automatically and will not be profiled.

PROF. SZYMON KAWALLA (POLAND) CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY 

Professor Szymon Kawalla – full professor (discipline of musical arts, symphony and opera conducting, composition), Former Dean of the Department of Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Since 1986 he has taught conducting class at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and since 2008 he has held the function of Head of the Unit of Music and Literature Education at the Institute of Education, Department of Educational Studies of the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education in Warsaw.

In 1992 he received from the President of the Republic of Poland the title of Professor of Musical Arts; he is an expert of the National Accreditation Committee and a juror at international music competitions; he also leads international masterclasses.

He studied at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, Departments of: Instrumental Studies – violin, diploma 1972; Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music – symphony and opera conducting, diploma 1973; composition – 1974; music studies abroad: Switzerland, Hungary, USSR; 1982 – artistic procedure of the 1st degree (now a doctoral degree in arts) at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw; 1984 – artistic procedure of the 2nd degree (now a post-doctoral degree) at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. In the period of 1972–1974 he was a lecturer at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw; between 1975 and 1980 he was a senior lecturer at the State Higher School of Music in Bydgoszcz. He also was: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Head of the Institute of Music Education, Higher School of Pedagogy in Zielona Góra (1980–1986); Full Professor, Holy Cross Academy in Kielce (1996–2001); and teacher in primary and secondary schools (1966–1979).

Professional activity as a conductor and manager: 1972–1974 – music manager and principal conductor of the Central Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army; 1974–1978 — conductor of the Pomeranian Symphony Orchestra in Bydgoszcz; 1979–1980 — head and artistic director and principal conductor of the State Chamber Orchestra in Toruń; 1980–1986 — head and artistic director and principal conductor of the State Philharmonic in Zielona Góra and the Chamber Opera Stage in Żagań; 1985–1991 — general and artistic director and principal conductor of the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Polish Radio and Television in Cracow; 1987–1995 — Principal Permanent Conductor of the Vienna Modern Masters CD Company, (Austria and USA); 1992–1994 — artistic consultant and principal conductor at the S. Moniuszko State Philharmonic in Koszalin; 1995–2001– general and artistic director and principal conductor at the Holy Cross Philharmonic and the Kielce Opera Stage; 2001–2006 – artistic director and principal conductor of the Orthodox Music Chamber Choir at the Warsaw Chamber Opera; 2002 – artistic director and principal conductor of the I.J. Paderewski Festival Orchestra in Warsaw; since 1995 – music manager and conductor/head of the Yeongnam Opera Company in Daegu, South Korea; since 2005 – juror and permanent conductor of finale concerts and laureates’ concerts at the International Competition for Brasswind Instruments and Percussion in Jeju, South Korea.

Szymon Kawalla has continually performed in Poland and abroad since 1966 giving over 5000 symphony, oratorio and opera performances (in such countries as: Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Iran, Iceland, Yugoslavia, Canada, South Korea, Cuba, Luxembourg, Malta, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland , Sweden, Ukraine, USA, Vatican, Hungary, Great Britain, or Italy). Worth emphasizing are: three oratorio concerts for His Holiness Pope John Paul II, concerts commemorating the 5th and 10th anniversaries of the death of King Boduin of Belgium, attended by Queen Fabiola, and year-long festival concerts in Johann Sebastian Bach’s year (2000), opera premieres for the opening of the New Opera House (2004) in Daegu (South Korea) and opera galas for the opening of the Culture and Art Center, Keimuyng University (2008) in Daegu. He has recorded for radio, television and the cinema since 1972  and has been recording for the following record companies since 1977: Balcanton (Bulgaria), Cambria Records (USA), Centaur Records (USA), Connifer Records (United Kingdom), JIGU (South Korea), Polskie Nagrania [Polish Records], Veriton, and Vienna Modern Masters (Austria and USA).

Most important compositions: Divertimento for Strings and Percussion (1966), oratorio Pater Kolbe (1969), cantata Wit Stwosz (1970), Stabat Mater (1990), Cantata in Commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope John Paul II (1991); Fantasy for solo violin (2002), two Arabic Impressions for solo violin (2006), Holy Cross Caprice for solo violin (2006), Babice Dumka with variations for solo violin (2006), Giovanile for symphony orchestra (2006), Love Lyrics (2007), American Threnodies (2007), oratorio Totus Tuus (2008), cantata The Polish Pope, cantata Tear (2008), Lament and Mazovian Toccata for violin and piano or orchestra (2009), Missa Solemnis (2010), music fairy tale Pyza on the Polish Paths (2011), Fantasy AZ for solo violin (2012).

Most important elaborations: K. Kurpiński — symphony The Battle of Mozajsk (1982), M. Kamieński — opera Destitution Made Happy (1983); M. Kamieński — Cantata Commemorating the Centenary of the Relief of Besieged Vienna (1984), W. Żeleński — Cantata Commemorating the Bicentenary of the Relief of Besieged Vienna (1986), K. Jezierski — cantata Casimire terris mirae (1986). Szymon Kawalla co-organized 7 International Scholarly Conferences at the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education in Warsaw (2008–2013). He co-edited three scholarly monographs (2010–2012).

Awards: Silver Cross of Merit (1985), Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland (1996), Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland (2004), decoration Meritorious Polish Culture Activist; K. Szymanowski Medal, K. Kurpiński Medal, Award of the Minister of Culture and Art of the second degree; awards of the first degree of Their Magnificences Rectors of the Higher School of Pedagogy in Zielona Góra, the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and the J. Kochanowski Holy Cross Academy in Kielce. Szymon Kawalla is a winner of several regional and creative community awards – Award for Young Creators, Zielona Góra, 1985; Grand Prix du disque Accademie Charles Cross — Paris, 1991; Nike – Award of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts, 2001; Bene Meritum Award of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts, 2006; Grand Prix at the International Opera Festival in Daegu, 2010; co-winner of award for best opera production of the year in South Korea, 2010.

PROF. CHRIS DAVID WESTOVER-MUNOZ (USA) VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY
An award-winning conductor/creator, Chris David Westover-Muñoz has conducted and curated programs for wind ensembles and orchestras nationally and internationally. He was awarded First Prize by the jury of the 2019 Warsaw Wind Ensemble Conducting Competition and his work has been described as “elegant, bold, vibrant, inspiring and centered,” by Augusta Read Thomas. Dr. Westover-Muñoz is associate professor of music at Denison University and was recently named Music Director of the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra. 

Westover-Muñoz sees his work as a conductor as equal parts collaborator, curator, and creator. His work is primarily motivated by the social function of music—how music brings people together to engage with the challenging issues of our time through the collective act of music making.Prior to his current appointment at Denison, Dr. Westover-Muñoz led wind ensembles, orchestras and operatic performances at Bethel College (KS), the University of Oklahoma, and the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. He has received acclaim for his performances with educational and professional ensembles in the US and abroad. Since 2017 he has been a frequent winner of the American Prize for Conducting in the choral, orchestral, and wind ensemble divisions. 

Dr. Westover-Muñoz maintains an active profile as a research scholar and has presented his work on Vincent Persichetti and Beethoven at Hong Kong Baptist University and the conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik. His album of IWW music will be released in late 2023 by PM Press. He has conducted across the United States and in the People’s Republic of China and maintains a relationship with ensembles and conductors in Poland. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Oklahoma and the Master of Music in Wind Conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU.

PROF. JANUSZ PRZYBYLSKI (POLAND) He graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Lodz, graduating from two faculties at this university: instrumentalist (Professor Zbigniew Frieman's viola class) and the faculty of theory, composition and conducting (Professor Tomasz Kiesewetter's class, graduating with honors). In 1972, he received a scholarship from the Italian Government and studied in Italy under conductor Franco Ferrara. In 1975-76, he took aspirant studies at the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad Conservatory in the class of Professor Arvid Jansons. Since 1976, after returning to Poland, he taught as a contract docent at the State Higher School of Music in Gdansk From 1991 to 2007, he was an associate professor at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk, where he established a class of symphonic and opera conducting at the Department of Theory, Composition and Conducting. He also founded and directed the Postgraduate Studies for Brass Band Conductors. In 1992, he completes the Postgraduate Studies for Management Education at the University of Gdansk. In October 2010, he receives the nomination of Professor of Musical Arts from the President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski. Since October 2013, he has been working with the Faculty of Vocal and Acting Studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. 

LT. COL. DR. MARCIN ŚLĄZAK (POLAND) For many years he was associated with the Gen. Józef Wybicki Polish Army Representative Orchestra in Warsaw, initially as an instrumental musician and later as its conductor. He is a graduate of the I. J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan at the Faculty of Choral Conducting and the Academy of Music in Gdansk in the field of wind band conducting in the class of Prof. Janusz Przybylski. He also completed postgraduate studies at the F. Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (choirmaster) and postgraduate studies of Cultural Managers at the Warsaw School of Economics. In 2014, he defended his doctoral thesis at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the artistic discipline of conducting. Lt. Col. Dr. Marcin Ślązak has served as the head of the Concert Orchestra of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army since August 6, 2019.

LT. COL. ADAM CZAJKOWSKI (POLAND) Graduate of the Military High School of Music in Gdansk and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in the conducting class of Professor Szymon Kawalla. Musician-instrumentalist, flutist, second and first conductor of orchestras, lecturer at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan, master's degree program with a specialty - wind orchestra conducting. Author of numerous studies for wind orchestra, he has been repeatedly invited to participate in recordings of albums, as well as to participate in the jury work of Polish and foreign music festivals. In 2004-2008, he was the commander-captain of the Representative Orchestra of the Polish Army. Distinguished conductor of the Concert Orchestra of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army. As a co-creator of the artistic image of the Concert Band, conducting rehearsals and dozens of concerts, he was one of the people who worked out the artistic level of the Band and significantly influenced the reception of the Band by the listeners. He is the author of nearly a hundred transcriptions and musical arrangements for wind orchestra. He has made numerous recordings as an instrumentalist and conductor. He has been repeatedly invited to participate in the jury of brass band festivals and competitions, as well as to teach workshops for conductors and tambourmasters. For more than a dozen years he has been a member of the board (since 2015 - president) of the Polish branch of the Society of Military Music Lovers. Since 2009, he has been the conductor of the Youth Brass Band at the Volunteer Fire Brigade in Kaski, with which he has repeatedly won top prizes at festivals and competitions for amateur music ensembles. From 2020 to 2023 he was a lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Since 2023, he has served as music director of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army. 

DR. MARCIN PIOTR ŁOPACKI (POLAND) COMPETITION COORDINATOR 

He has won 53 prizes and awards in composition competitions, mainly international, and is a three-time winner of the Musical Young Forum concert series of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw. Scholarship holder of the Societé Generale bank (2010) and the Young Poland program of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2021). He has collaborated with many cultural institutions, including: National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, J. Semkow's Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, Warsaw Chamber Opera, Polish Royal Opera, Polish Society for Contemporary Music, Union of Polish Composers. From 2007 to 2019, he was pianist-co-recorder and assistant conductor of the Warsaw Boys' and Men's Choir at the UMFC. The artist performs primarily as a pianist-cameralist. He enjoys working with numerous vocalists as a vocal coach, using his unparalleled skills in a vista playing. He is also active in non-governmental organizations: in 2007 he was appointed as a member of the board of directors of the Jeunesses Musicales Poland association; from 2008 to 2016 he was secretary, board member and then chairman of the Young Circle of the Polish Composers' Union; in 2015 he established (together with Andrzej Karalow and Piotr Zawadzki) the Ensemblage Foundation, of which he is currently president.

DR. JAROSŁAW PRASZCZAŁEK (POLAND) JURY SECRETARY

Conductor, composer, instrumentalist, educator, popularizer of knowledge about music. He graduated from the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory (major: symphonic and opera conducting) at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He earned his bachelor's degree in the class of Prof. Marek Pijarowski, and his master's degree in the class of Prof. Szymon Kawalla. He honed his skills at international conducting courses conducted by such baton masters as Douglas Bostock, Frank Cramer, Colin Metters and Johannes Stert. In 2017, he earned a doctorate of musical arts in the artistic discipline of conducting at his alma mater. He has won numerous competitions in music theory, composition and improvisation. Finalist of the second and third editions of the Warsaw Chamber Opera's Young Stage program, as part of which he conducted the premieres of operas by contemporary composers: Dariusz Przybylski's Wasserstimmen, Nikolet Burzynska's Labyrinth of Orpheus, Ryan Latimer's Three Tall Tales of Doctor Monsieur Façade and Eunho Chang's Sacred Emily. Since 2011, he has been a presenter of educational concerts at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, and since 2014 he has worked as a conductor-educator at the State Music School Complex No. 1 in Warsaw. In 2016, soprano Joanna Freszel's album Real Life Song, on which the artist conducts the world premieres of works by Milosz Bembinov and Katarzyna Szwed, received two Fryderyk Award nominations and the prestigious Parisian award Les Orphées d'Or (Golden Orpheus). As a conductor, he also collaborates with Jerzy Semkow's Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, the Gorzow Philharmonic, the Kalisz Philharmonic, the Swietokrzyska Philharmonic named after Oskar Kolberg. Oskar Kolberg Philharmonic in Kielce, Witold Lutoslawski Chamber Philharmonic in Lomza, Rybnicka Philharmonic named after the Szafranek Brothers, Elblag Chamber Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Plock Symphony Orchestra, Toruń Symphony Orchestra, Arte Creatura Musical Theater, Proscenium Musical Theater and Variety Theater in Warsaw. Since 2017, he has been a lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he teaches at the Department of Symphony and Opera Conducting and organizes numerous scientific and artistic conferences. Since 2020, he has been the head of the Postgraduate Studies in Wind Orchestra Conducting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

First prize: 4000 zł 

Second prize: 3000 zł 

Third prize: 2000 zł 

Participants in the competition will also receive in-kind prizes (scores and books) from the Library of Wind Orchestras of the Polish Music Publishing House. 

The competition will consist of four stages. 

STAGE I 

Submission of recordings presenting the candidate's conducting skills. 

Date: by October 31 of this year. 

Number of participants: any. 

Repertoire: Candidates should submit a link to a video recording presenting the participant's conducting skills
(see specifications in No. 5 of the competition rules)

STAGE II 

Audition with two pianos in the Józef Elsner Hall at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

Date: 7.12.2023 

Number of participants: maximum of 20.

Repertoire: 

Stanislaw Moniuszko - Overture to the opera "Halka". 

imslp.org/wiki/Halka_(Moniuszko%2C_Stanis%C5%82aw) 

STAGE III 

Rehearsal with chamber wind ensemble at the Józef Elsner Hall at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. 

Date: 8.12.2023

Number of participants: maximum of 20.

Repertoire: 

Gaetano Donizetti - Sinfonia in G minor for wind instruments.  

imslp.org/wiki/Sinfonia_for_Winds_in_G_minor%2C_A_509_(Donizetti%2C_Gaetano) 

STAGE IV 

Final gala with the participation of the Concert Orchestra of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army. 

Date: 9.12.2023 

Number of participants: maximum of 5.

Repertoire: 

Henryk Czyż - "Etiuda" 

Leon Landowski - "Taniec boraków" 

NOTE: The score materials of the final stage will be sent to participants who pass the video preselection. Scores will be sent by email. The scores (used in the fourth stage of the competition) are the property of the Concert Orchestra of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army. It is forbidden to distribute these materials to outsiders.   

The Ensemblage Foundation was founded by lecturers at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Its goal is to promote Polish, contemporary and avant-garde music. The foundation organizes concerts, workshops and music competitions. 

Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, later took the name Granville College, and, in the mid-1850s, was renamed Denison University, in honor of a key benefactor. The college enrolled 2300 students in Fall 2019 and students choose from 56 academic majors. The college's intercollegiate athletic teams compete in the North Coast Athletic Conference, fielding 24 varsity teams in the NCAA Division III. Denison is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio and the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

The Chopin University of Music (Polish: Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina, UMFC) is a musical conservatorium and academy located in central Warsaw, Poland. It is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe.

The Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army is the largest artistic institution in the Polish Army, carrying out a wide range of artistic tasks aimed at shaping patriotic, educational and educational attitudes. RZAWP inherits a tradition of more than 100 years of theater and stage groups operating at the Polish Soldier's Homes during the Second Republic. The group popularizes national content and the glory of the Polish Armed Forces at home and abroad.