Deputy Rector for Artistic and Research Affairs
prof. dr hab. Magdalena Blum

A graduate of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław in Zdzisława Rychlewska’s piano class. Having worked at her alma mater for a year (she started as a student), she was invited as an artist in residence to Shattuck St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota, where she gave numerous performances as a soloist (playing at recitals and concerts with an orchestra) and a chamber musician (playing with vocalists and instrumentalists); as a pianist she also participated in a musical production. She perfected her skills with Prof. De Wayne Wee in Northfield, Minnesota. Her stay in the USA resulted in further employment and concert proposals, but she decided to continue her work at the Academy of Music in Wrocław.

Magdalena Blum is the winner of the 3rd All-Polish Liszt Competition and of the preliminary round of the WAMSO multiinstrumental competition in Minneapolis in the pianist group. She gave concerts in Russia (in the Grand Concert Hall of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg, among others), several times in the USA (last year in Carnegie Hall) and in many European countries. She performed as a soloist and chamber musician at music festivals, e.g. in Vienna and Gaming (Chopin Festival).

She participated (as an accompanist) in international vocal competitions in Warsaw, Karlovy Vary, Oslo and Toulouse. As a chamber pianist, she appeared many times at interpretation master courses, e.g. in Wrocław (Wratislavia Cantans), Duszniki-Zdrój, Vienna (Hochschule für Musik), Radziejowice, Görlitz, Nowy Sącz and Monaco, working with such professors as Ralf Döring, Eugeniusz Sąsiadek, Christina Hampe, Włodzimierz Zalewski, Bogdan Makal, Rusko Ruskow, Ewa Czermak, Christian Elssner, Andrzej Dobber, Agnieszka Rehlis, Sylvain Cambreling, Joshard Daus, Izabella Kłosińska, Helga Meyer-Wagner, Elizabeth Wilke, Ryszard Karczykowski and Teresa Żylis-Gara. At the vocal competitions, she was granted the award for the best pianist chamber musician several times.

She made recordings for the Polish Radio and Television. As a performer, she appears on five CDs: Arias and Songs of the Italian Bel Canto Masters (MCA; 2001), Il Convegno (DUX; 2004), Consortium Musicum (JBRecords:2006), Witold Friemann (KTM, 2009), Fryderyk Chopin – Transcriptions (Acte Prealable 2010), Elegies (Polskie Nagrania, 2012), for which she received the Wrocław Music Award for the year 2012 (in the classical music category).

She is a professor and works as a chamber musician at the Vocal and Instrumental Faculties. She constantly broadens her repertoire and scope of interests: for two years she has been cooperating with the Europhea Chor Akademie in Görlitz, where she has had an opportunity to work with the conductors Sylvain Cambreling and Joshard Daus preparing large concerts for the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Several months ago she substituted for the orchestra, playing its part in Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Paulus oratorio with an international group of soloists and a choir at concerts in Germany. The concerts were so successful that Magdalena Blum was invited by the organisers to participate in the 2020–2021 artistic season as well.

In the years 2008–2016 she was appointed two times to hold the position of Deputy Rector of the Academy of Music in Wrocław. Apart from the duties arising from that position (among which an important achievement was the coordination and control over documentation associated with parametric evaluation, in which all the faculties were rated ‘A’ and as a result received funds from a grant for maintaining research potential, which were urgently needed at the time), Prof. Krystain Kiełb, Rector of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, entrusted her with the following tasks:

• preparing the self-evaluation report for the European Institutional Accreditation in 2010,
• participating in the Wrocław Council of Culture which prepared documents applying for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2016 to be granted to Wrocław,
• participating in the work of the team for establishing the Wrocław Academic Union,
• participating in the work of the Controlling Committee for the ‘Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016’ Programme,
• preparing the set-up of the English Division,
• preparing the set-up of the Open Music Academy,
• coordinating projects prepared by the Academy for ‘Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016’ programme,
• heading the European Student Symphony Orchestra project as part of the ‘Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016’ programme,
• establishing the team for researching Karol Lipiński’s music (the Honorary Committee for the Publication of the Composer’s Works included Mieczysław Tomaszewski, Irena Poniatowska, and Konstanty Andrzej Kulka).

Magdalena Blum was the initiator of the Academic Duo Competition, initially for vocal, later also for instrumental duos. The competition formula turned out to be successful: the competition was gradually broadened to include the academies in Katowice, Kraków and Łodź. This year its first all-Polish edition with many promotional concerts for laureates was to have been held; unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the pandemic.

As Deputy Rector, Magdalena Blum participated several times in conferences on music research, including the field of performance: at the Guidhall School of Music (Reflective Conservatoire), in Rome, Lyon and Stockholm (European Platform for Research in Music), thanks to which she could more effectively supervise several doctoral dissertations and inspire young researchers. Currently, she is supervising the fifth doctoral dissertation.

Magdalena Blum organised several charity concerts including a large concert entitled ‘Wrocław Artists for Ukraine’, inspired by the dramatic events in Ukraine in 2014. The concert was supported by the Wrocław Opera, the Philharmonic Orchestra and the City Council. Dozens of artists played for Ukraine at the Concert Hall of the Academy of Music in Wrocław. It was the first of a series of such concerts organised in Poland.

In December, Prof. Grzegorz Kurzyński, Rector of the Academy, entrusted Magdalena Blum with the task of coordinating the grant of the National Agency for Academic Exchange ‘The Eastern Academic Artistic Platform’. A team of coordinators were appointed, tasks and responsibilities were assigned, and a schedule was established for the optimal and most beneficial implementation of the project – in accordance with the principle of prioritizing every research and artistic activity that results in points awarded in parametric evaluation. The project is in its implementation stage; due to the pandemic, a consent to extend its term has been obtained.

Magdalena Blum’s activity is multifaceted, as she engages in chamber and solo music performance as well as teaching, works for expanding the presence of music in the life of society and for development of chamber music, participates in organisational activities and inspires young academic teachers to undertake research activities.