View source for Witold Rowicki

{{Short description|Polish conductor}}
[[Image:Witold Rowicki.jpg|thumb|200px|Witold Rowicki during 7th [[Chopin Competition]], [[Warsaw]], 1965]]
[[Image:Witold Rowicki monument.JPG|thumb|200px|Grave of Witold Rowicki at [[Powązki Cemetery]] in Warsaw.]]

'''Witold Rowicki''' (born ''Witold Kałka'', 26 February 1914 – 1 October 1989) was a Polish [[conducting|conductor]].  He held principal conducting positions with the [[Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra]]<ref>Searle, Humphrey, "Reports from Abroad: Warsaw Contemporary Music Festival" (1959).  ''The Musical Times'', '''100''' (1401): 614.</ref> and the [[Bamberg Symphony Orchestra]]. [[Witold Lutoslawski|Witold Lutoslawski's]] [[Concerto for Orchestra (Lutoslawski)|Concerto for Orchestra]] was dedicated to him.

==Biography==
Rowicki was born in [[Taganrog]], [[Russian Empire]] in 1914. He arrived in Poland in 1923, attending schools in [[Żywiec]] and [[Nowy Sącz]] before matriculating at the [[Academy of Music in Kraków|conservatory]] in Kraków. He studied violin under Artur Malawski and theory under director Michał Piotrowski and made his conducting debut, while still a student, in 1933. Graduating in 1938, he was appointed professor of violin at the conservatory and spent the occupation years in Kraków. 

After the Soviet expulsion of the Nazis from Poland, Rowicki revived the defunct [[Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra]], which had disbanded during the war, in [[Katowice]]. Between 1950 and 1955, and again between 1958 and 1977, Rowicki was the director of the [[Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra|Warsaw Philharmonic]], leading the orchestra on multiple foreign tours and receiving several decorations from the Polish government. He later moved to West Germany and directed the [[Bamberg Symphony]] from 1983 to 1985. He died in [[Warsaw]] in 1989.

==Discography==
Rowicki was most strongly associated with the Warsaw Philharmonic, but he also made recordings as a guest conductor with orchestras including the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], and the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] (all in London), the [[Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra]] in Tokyo, and the [[Wiener Symphoniker]]. His recordings include:
* a [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]] [[Symphony|symphony cycle]] with the London Symphony Orchestra,<ref>Anderson, Robert, Review of Dvořák Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (1971).  ''The Musical Times'', '''112''' (1545): p. 1077.</ref>
* works of [[Wojciech Kilar]]<ref>Samson, Jim, Reviews of recordings of Bolesław Szabelski and Wojciech Kilar (1989).  ''Tempo'' (New Ser.), '''169''': p. 52.</ref>
* the [[Violin Concerto (Karłowicz)|Violin Concerto]],<ref>Banks, Paul, "Karłowicz Riches" (1989).  ''The Musical Times'', '''130''' (1762): p. 753.</ref> ''Eternal Songs'' and ''[[Lithuanian Rhapsody]]''<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Mieczys%C5%82aw-Kar%C5%82owicz-Muzyka-Symfoniczna/release/10245606 Polskie Nagrania Muza XL 0006]</ref> of [[Mieczysław Karłowicz]]
* various works of [[Karol Szymanowski]].<ref>Macdonald, Hugh, Review of Szymanowski Stabat Mater Op. 53/Symphony No. 3 Op. 27 (1981).  ''The Musical Times'', '''122''' (1656): p. 113.</ref><ref>Dunnett, Roderic, "The Review Section: Records - Szymanowski" (November 1990).  ''The Musical Times'', '''131''' (1773): pp. 603-604.</ref>
* [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]] and [[Prokofiev]] [[piano concerto]]s with [[Sviatoslav Richter]]; [[Mozart]] piano concertos with [[Ingrid Haebler]] and the London Symphony Orchestra

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.teatrwielki.pl/ludzie.php?action=search&full=1&id=458 Biography (in Polish)]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/03/obituaries/witold-rowicki-75-polish-conductor-dies.html?pagewanted=1 Obituary]

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{{succession box |title=[[Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra|Music Director, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra]] | before=[''orchestra defunct under wartime occupation''] | years=1945&ndash;1947 | after=[[Grzegorz Fitelberg]]
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{{succession box |title=[[Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra|Music Director, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra]] | before=[[Władysław Raczkowski]] | years=1950&ndash;1955 | after=[[Bohdan Wodiczko]]
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{{succession box | title=[[Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra|Music Director, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra]] | before=[[Bohdan Wodiczko]] | years=1958&ndash;1977 | after=[[Kazimierz Kord]]
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{{succession box | title=[[Bamberg Symphony Orchestra|Chief Conductor, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra]] | before=[[James Loughran]] | years=1983&ndash;1985 | after=[[Horst Stein]]
}}
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[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Nowy Sącz]]
[[Category:People from Taganrog]]
[[Category:Polish male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Burials at Powązki Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish male musicians]]
[[Category:Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland]]
[[Category:Chief conductors of the Bamberg Symphony]]

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