Szymon Bywalec

SZYMON BYWALEC graduated with honors in symphonic and opera conducting from Prof. Jan Wincenty Hawel's class at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. From 2006 to 2013, he was artistic director of the Academic Symphony Orchestra. At that time he worked as assistant conductor of both the Academic Symphony Orchestra and the NOSPR with, among others: Gabriel Chmura (AM), Paul McCreesh (NOSPR), Jacek Kaspszyk (NOSPR, AM), Krzysztof Penderecki (NOSPR, AM), François-Xavier Roth (OMN), Arturo Tamayo (AM), Takuo Yuasa (AM). He is also a graduate of the Academy of Music in Cracow, where he studied oboe with Prof. Jerzy Kotyczko.
As a scholarship student at the Sienna Accademia Musicale Chigiana, he honed his conducting skills under G. Gelmetti and L. Zagrosek. He participated in master classes for conductors, conducted by G. Chmura, K. Masur, Z. Peskó, P. Boulez, among others. He was awarded 1st prize in the 2nd National Review of Young Conductors in Bialystok (1998) and two extra-regional prizes in the 6th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conducting Competition in Katowice. As a symphony and opera conductor, he has performed on stages in Poland, Europe and Asia, including the Vienna Konzerthaus (twice), Leipzig's Gewandhaus and various stages in France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia, South Korea, China, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Belgium, among others.
He has collaborated with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the Slovak National Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Strumentale “Città di Prato”, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Melos Ethos Ensemble, Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra and many other philharmonic and chamber orchestras in Poland and abroad. He regularly collaborates with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. He is also the artistic director and first conductor of the Orchestra of New Music, which he has led at numerous festivals such as Warsaw Autumn, Melos-Ethos in Bratislava, Beijing Modern in Beijing, Hindsgavl Festival and Klang Festival in Denmark, promoting contemporary Polish and Silesian music on the world's stages, for which, among other things, he received an honorary award from the Polish Composers' Union in 2014.
The conductor has many world and Polish premieres to his credit. Recordings made with various orchestras have been recommended three times at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (2007, 2009, 2010) have also won other phonographic awards, such as the Pizzicato Supersonic Award (2009) and the “Lyt til Nyt” P2 Pris (2013). In 2016, a CD recorded with OMN and Italian clarinetist Michele Marelli was released on the phonographic market for DECCA. Recordings of ensembles conducted by Szymon Bywalec can be found on more than 20 CDs and several DVDs (recorded for such labels as Anaklasis, Aurora, BIS, Dacapo Records, Decca, DUX, Kairos, Pomaton). Many of them have been honored with awards from the recording industry.
Since 2014, he has been conducting a series of concerts by the Orchestra of New Music at the headquarters of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, which included works by such composers as: Hans Abrahamsen, Louis Andriessen, Michael Beil, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Gerard Grisey, Toshio Hosokawa, Helmut Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Olivier Messiaen, Tristan Murail, Per Nørgård, Stefan Prins, Fausto Romitelli, Kaija Saariaho, Rebecca Saunders, Salvatore Sciarrino, Simon Steen-Andersen, Niels Rønsholdt, Jennifer Walshe, and works by more than 40 Polish artists.
Recently (2023, 2024), he conducted the International Contemporary Music Courses in Boswil/Lucerne (Switzerland), and conducted the inaugural concert of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music at the National Philharmonic (2023). Since 2011 he has been a member of the Program Committee of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music, and in 2013-2016 he was the artistic director of the “Musica Polonica Nova” festival.
Since 1999, he has been a lecturer at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he currently teaches a class in symphonic and opera conducting. In June 2024, he was awarded the title of professor of art. For promoting Polish contemporary music abroad, he received the aforementioned honorary award from the Polish Composers' Union. Particularly noteworthy is the promotion of contemporary Silesian music, which in his interpretations, performed primarily by the Orchestra of New Music, has been heard in China, France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, among others.
For 15 years he worked as a pedagogue at the K. Szymanowski State Secondary Music School in Katowice. His work with young people has always been particularly close to his heart, as evidenced by a joint project between the students of the K. Szymanowski Secondary State Music School in Katowice and the F. Chopin Secondary State Music School in Bytom, which had its finale in the form of a joint concert in the chamber hall of the NOSPR in June 2024.
(fot. Izabela Lechowicz)