Antoni Wit

Antoni Wit is one of the most highly regarded Polish conductors, a champion of Polish music and General and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic.

He studied conducting with Henryk Czyż and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki and later Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1971 he was a top prize winner at the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition. His music directorship included Artistic Director with the Pomeranian Philharmonic, Artistic Director and First Conductor of the Radio Orchester in Krakow, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, first as Music Director and then as Visiting Conductor. Between 1983-2000 he held the post of Director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra before taking up his current position at the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Antoni Wit has enjoyed an international career with major orchestras throughout Europe, America and the Far East. Past highlights have comprised Berliner Philharmoniker, Dresden Staatskapelle, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Recent and future orchestral engagements include Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart and Berlin Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Prague Radio Symphony and Orchestre National de Lyon.

Five times Grammy Award nominated, Antoni Wit has made over one hundred and fifty recordings for EMI, Sony and Naxos. He has sold close to five million records on Naxos including an acclaimed release of Prokofiev’s piano concertos with Kun Woo Paik, awarded the Diapason d'Or. He was bestowed the award of EMI “Record of the Year” in 1985 and in January 2002 he was awarded the Cannes Classical Award. More recently, the first two records from his series of complete works by Szymanowski were picked as the Gramophone “Editor's Choice” and subsequent two records were awarded the BBC Music Magazine’s “Editor's Choice”. His first DVD release on the ICA Classics label was awarded the “Editor’s Choice/DVD of the Month” by Gramophone magazine. The DVD features Szymanowski’s Third and Fourth Symphonies conducted by Antoni Wit with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.