Antoni Wit One of the greatests Polish conductors, director and artistic director of National Philharmonic in Warsaw. He is one of the most prominent Polish conductors. He studied conducting with Henryk Czyż and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków. He received further training in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He is also a graduate of the Law Faculty of the Jagiellonian University. After his graduation he was appointed assistant to Witold Rowicki at the National Philharmonic. Then he was a conductor of the Poznań Philharmonic and collaborated with the Polish National Opera Teatr Wielki in Warsaw; he was also Artistic Director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Szczecin (1974-77), and Director of the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Choir in Kraków (1977-83). In 1983-2000, he was General and Artistic Director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (earlier the Great Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra) - the longest period in the history of the orchestra; in the 2000/2001 season he had the position of the First Conductor there. In 1987-92 he was also Artistic Director and the First Guest Conductor of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. In January 2002, he was appointed General and Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. He has conducted leading symphony orchestras in nearly all musical institutions of Europe, the Americas, the Middle and the Far East. He made over 90 disc recordings for various companies, such as e.g. EMI-HMV, CBS, Camerata Tokyo, NVC Arts, Pony Canyon, Naxos, Polskie Nagrania. His recording of Szymanowski's Stabat Mater (EMI) was acclaimed by British critics as one of the best discs of the year, while his complete recording of piano concertos by Prokofiev (Naxos) won Diapason d'Or and Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque (1993). He also recorded all orchestral works of Witold Lutosławski with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (9 CDs). The artist has conducted many leadings orchestras of the world, such as Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), BBC Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), London Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He is invited to participate in many music festivals both in Poland and abroad. In the past seasons he appeared, together with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, at the Piano Festival La Roque d'Anthéron in France, the Festival Al Bustan in Beirut, the Festival in Bad Hersfeld (Germany), during Dresden Contemporary Music Days and at prestigious national festivals such as Music in Old Cracow, Wratislavia Cantans, Warsaw Autumn, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Kraków, and Musical Festival of the Polish Radio. Antoni Wit received the Second Prize at the International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin as well as many national awards. In 1984 and 1996 he received the Orfeusz Critics Award for the best performance of Polish compositions at the Warsaw Autumn Festival. In 1998 he was awarded the Diamond Baton, a special prize conferred to outstanding conductors by the Polish Public Radio Board. In the ballot for the Silesian of the Year organized by the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, he was ranked 55. On 20 January 2002 the artists received the prestigious Cannes Classical Award in the category of 20th-Century Works (Midem Classique 2002) for the recording of Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen (Naxos). Antoni Wit is Professor of the Frédéric Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.