Kazimierz Kord studied in Vladimir Nilsen’s piano class at the Leningrad Conservatory in 1949-55 and conducting with Artur Malawski and Witold Krzemieński at the Higher School of Music in Kraków in 1956-60. As director general and artistic director of the Municipal Musical Theatre in Kraków (1962-69), he prepared some 30 premieres, including Gounod’s Faust directed by himself and designed by Józef Szajna. The success of this production paved his way to Munich’s Gärtnerplatztheater and New York’s Metropolitan Opera. In 1969-73, he served as director at the Great Polish Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra of Katowice, and, in 1977-2001, as director at the Warsaw Philharmonic, with which ensemble he toured extensively in Europe, the USA, Australia, China and Japan, and recorded albums and for the radio. At the same time, he was a conductor of the Südwestfunk Orchestra in Baden-Baden (1980-86). He performed with eminent ensembles in Leningrad, Cleveland, Chicago (a debut in 1973), Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Tokyo, Toronto (a 1974 European tour with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra after the death of Karel Ančerl), London, Prague, Munich, Stuttgart, Rome, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Athens.
He has been musical director of Teatr Wielki – National Opera and, since 2006, he has acted as its director general.