We are happy to announce that a student of our Academy, Karol Knapinski, has taken over the position of manager of the Vocal Ensemble of the Polish Royal Opera.

Karol, currently a first-year master's student at the Department of Composition, Conducting, Music Theory and Music Therapy under the direction of Prof. Mieczyslaw Gawronski, Ph.D., and at the same time a second-year master's student at the Department of Music Education, Choral and Church Music under the direction of prof. Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, Ph.D., also had the opportunity to learn from such masters as Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Paul McCreesh, Sylvain Cambreling, Lionel Sow, Jaan-Eik Tulve.

A versatile artist, conductor and pianist, he has developed his skills both in Poland and abroad, working with universities in Tallinn, Turin and Tbilisi and ensembles such as the Europa Chor Akademie Görlitz and the NFM Choir, among others, as well as Polish Radio choirs and academic ensembles from Wroclaw, Poznan, Lodz and Bydgoszcz. He is also co-founder of the vocal ensemble “half.choir,” which has presented to audiences masterpieces of early music and contemporary works.

Karol Knapinski has been awarded many prizes, including second place and special honorable mentions at the 19th Prof. Stanislaw Krawczynski National Competition for Choral Conductors. His passion is new music - he has to his credit numerous performances and premieres of works by young composers.

We sincerely congratulate you on this remarkable achievement and wish Charles success in his new role!