Warsaw Wind Band Conducting Competition 2025

JAROSŁAW IGNASZAK (POLAND)

Jarosław Ignaszak, born 1976, is conductor of wind bands and also a teacher. Graduate of the Academy of Music in Poznań – specialization in Conducting Wind Bands. Since 2015 conductor of the Wind Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Kraków.Since 2004 artistic director of the “Wieniawa” Orchestra Former drum major of the Military Orchestra in Kraków. Member of the World Association of Symphonic Wind Band and Ensembles Originator of the artistic education program “Mała Wieniawa” based on the most modern methods of learning to play instruments.

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PROF. SZYMON KAWALLA (POLAND) CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY 

Full Professor at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw

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.

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DR. MARCIN PIOTR ŁOPACKI (POLAND) COMPETITION COORDINATOR 

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). …

DR. JAROSŁAW PRASZCZAŁEK (POLAND) JURY SECRETARY

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. …

LT. COL. DR. MARCIN SLAZAK (POLAND)

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.

PROF. CHRIS DAVID WESTOVER-MUNOZ (USA) VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY

Associate Professor of Music at Denison University

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.

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