Director of the Krakow Opera
Piotr Sułkowski
Director of the Krakow Opera
Piotr Sułkowski
Professor Piotr Sułkowski, Ph.D. Graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Kraków at the Faculty of Conducting and Music Education; since 2011, general and artistic director of the Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic in Olsztyn; deputy director of the Polish Radio Choir (2008-2009); music director of the Toruń Symphonic Orchestra (2009-2011); guest conductor of the Signature Symphony Orchestra (2008-2014), Tulsa, USA. Member of the Artistic Council of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra.
Sułkowski has extensive operatic experience, acquired during his work as a conductor and later as an acting artistic director in the Kraków Opera and at Wildwood Festival Opera AR (USA), where he held the position of a music director. He prepared a number of opera premières, including world premières; among others in 2007 as part of the celebrations of the Szymanowski Year, he performed the world première of an unknown operetta by K. Szymanowski, titled ‘Lottery for Husbands or Fiancé No. 69.’. ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ by B. Britten, conducted by P. Sułkowski in 2004, was recognised as the best performance of the year at the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival. In 2010 in Pamplona (Spain), he prepared the première of ‘Carmen’ by G. Bizet with Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra and implemented an international opera project ‘Fidelio: The Holocaust Memorial Production’, receiving excellent reviews, among others in the prestigious ‘Opera’ magazine. Sułkowski collaborated with the Kraków Chamber Opera. In 2019, together with the Warsaw Chamber Opera, he prepared a production of W. A. Mozart's ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ with which he toured Japan.
Initiator and artistic director of the Barbican Music Festival, artistic director of ‘Copernicus Open. Festival of Science and Art’ in Frombork, initiator and co-organiser of the ‘Arena Festival Film & Music’ festival in Ostróda, and a musical titled ‘Era of the Lake’ (‘Pora Jeziora’) based on the legends of Warmia and Mazury, which in the ranking of Wirtualna Polska was on the 6th place among top ten musical events of 2021.
Sułkowski cooperates with multiple orchestras in the country and abroad. In 2016, he toured with the winners of the International Violin Competition of H. Wieniawski, ending with a concert at the International Violin Festival in St. Petersburg with M. Vengerov. In 2018, he conducted a concert of Polish music with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as one of the concerts during the Krzysztof Penderecki Festival to commemorate the composer's 85th birthday. He initiates multiple activities promoting the works of Feliks Nowowiejski. As part of celebrations of the Year of Nowowiejski in 2016, Sułkowski performed concerts featuring the ‘Quo Vadis’ oratorio in Kraków, Barczewo and the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, featuring renowned soloists: Aleksandra Kurzak, Artur Ruciński and Rafał Siwek, with whom the first studio recording of the work was made. In 2020, Sułkowski recorded and in 2021 published an album with another oratorio of F. Nowowiejski, ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’, with Agnieszka Rehlis, Arnold Rutkowski and Łukasz Konieczny performing the solo parts. He is a member of the editorial committee for the critical edition of F. Nowowiejski’s works, published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne. In 2010, he inaugurated the National Pantheon Foundation with a concert in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kraków.
Sułkowski is engaged in teaching, initially at the Academy of Music in Kraków, nowadays at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he teaches a class of conducting. Head of the Conducting Department since 2020. In 2021, Sułkowski received the title of professor. In Spain, he teaches workshops for conductors. Member of juries in Polish and international music competitions. Participant and speaker at Polish and international conferences in the area of culture and modern orchestra model.
Between 2014 and 2021, deputy chairman of the Management Board of the Union of Polish Philharmonic Orchestras. Between 2012 and 2016, member of the Programme Council of Radio Olsztyn. Since 2011, member of the jury of Feliks Nowowiejski Award in Olsztyn. Laureate of a number of prizes, among others St. James Statuette (2012), Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture (2014), Pegasus statuette (2015), Silver Cross of Merit (2016) F. Nowowiejski Award (2017), Special Award of the Marshal of Warmia and Mazury Province (2021), Gold Cross of Merit (2021).
Sułkowski has extensive operatic experience, acquired during his work as a conductor and later as an acting artistic director in the Kraków Opera and at Wildwood Festival Opera AR (USA), where he held the position of a music director. He prepared a number of opera premières, including world premières; among others in 2007 as part of the celebrations of the Szymanowski Year, he performed the world première of an unknown operetta by K. Szymanowski, titled ‘Lottery for Husbands or Fiancé No. 69.’. ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ by B. Britten, conducted by P. Sułkowski in 2004, was recognised as the best performance of the year at the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival. In 2010 in Pamplona (Spain), he prepared the première of ‘Carmen’ by G. Bizet with Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra and implemented an international opera project ‘Fidelio: The Holocaust Memorial Production’, receiving excellent reviews, among others in the prestigious ‘Opera’ magazine. Sułkowski collaborated with the Kraków Chamber Opera. In 2019, together with the Warsaw Chamber Opera, he prepared a production of W. A. Mozart's ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ with which he toured Japan.
Initiator and artistic director of the Barbican Music Festival, artistic director of ‘Copernicus Open. Festival of Science and Art’ in Frombork, initiator and co-organiser of the ‘Arena Festival Film & Music’ festival in Ostróda, and a musical titled ‘Era of the Lake’ (‘Pora Jeziora’) based on the legends of Warmia and Mazury, which in the ranking of Wirtualna Polska was on the 6th place among top ten musical events of 2021.
Sułkowski cooperates with multiple orchestras in the country and abroad. In 2016, he toured with the winners of the International Violin Competition of H. Wieniawski, ending with a concert at the International Violin Festival in St. Petersburg with M. Vengerov. In 2018, he conducted a concert of Polish music with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as one of the concerts during the Krzysztof Penderecki Festival to commemorate the composer's 85th birthday. He initiates multiple activities promoting the works of Feliks Nowowiejski. As part of celebrations of the Year of Nowowiejski in 2016, Sułkowski performed concerts featuring the ‘Quo Vadis’ oratorio in Kraków, Barczewo and the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, featuring renowned soloists: Aleksandra Kurzak, Artur Ruciński and Rafał Siwek, with whom the first studio recording of the work was made. In 2020, Sułkowski recorded and in 2021 published an album with another oratorio of F. Nowowiejski, ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’, with Agnieszka Rehlis, Arnold Rutkowski and Łukasz Konieczny performing the solo parts. He is a member of the editorial committee for the critical edition of F. Nowowiejski’s works, published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne. In 2010, he inaugurated the National Pantheon Foundation with a concert in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kraków.
Sułkowski is engaged in teaching, initially at the Academy of Music in Kraków, nowadays at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he teaches a class of conducting. Head of the Conducting Department since 2020. In 2021, Sułkowski received the title of professor. In Spain, he teaches workshops for conductors. Member of juries in Polish and international music competitions. Participant and speaker at Polish and international conferences in the area of culture and modern orchestra model.
Between 2014 and 2021, deputy chairman of the Management Board of the Union of Polish Philharmonic Orchestras. Between 2012 and 2016, member of the Programme Council of Radio Olsztyn. Since 2011, member of the jury of Feliks Nowowiejski Award in Olsztyn. Laureate of a number of prizes, among others St. James Statuette (2012), Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture (2014), Pegasus statuette (2015), Silver Cross of Merit (2016) F. Nowowiejski Award (2017), Special Award of the Marshal of Warmia and Mazury Province (2021), Gold Cross of Merit (2021).