The third episode of the #FulbrightDecades series focuses on the history of the Fulbright Program in Poland during the 1970s. The #FulbrightDecades series is a part of the #IAmFulbrighter campaign.
What are some of the most interesting things that happened in Fulbright Poland during the 1970s? In this decade we saw a total of 98 grantees, four of which were the first grantees sent to the USA for the study of art, specifically theater or musical arts. The grantees were: Andrzej Barszczyński (Drama/Theater Arts – Filmmaking and cinematography), Alina Makarewicz (Drama/Theater Arts – Theater management and organization), Tomasz Sikorski (Music), and Antoni Wit (Music).
Antoni Wit is an outstanding conductor and general/artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic from the years 2002 to 2013. He is also the long-time director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday and the 50 years of artistic work. Antoni Wit is currently a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. During his time at the Warsaw Philharmonic, he conducted over 450 concerts (of which 215 were abroad) and recorded over 50 CDs. In his last seasons, he led, among others, La Scala orchestra in Milan, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro), China Philharmonic (Beijing), Denver Symphony Orchestra (Colorado, USA), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Teatro Colón orchestra (Buenos Aires) and many others.
Antoni Wit’s recordings can be found on over 200 albums that have received numerous awards, including a Grammy Award in 2013, 6 separate nominations for this award, and four Polish Fryderyk Awards. The recordings include works by Polish composers Paderewski, Wieniawski, Karłowicz, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Penderecki, Kilar, and also works of world literature – including interpretations of works by Mahler and R. Strauss, both of which were received with great critical acclaim. He is one of the few artists in the world whose albums have sold a total of almost five million copies.
Interestingly, he started his career as a law student! He completed his law studies in parallel with his conducting studies as a pupil of the famous professor Henryk Czyż at the Academy of Music in Krakow.
