JERZY SEMKOW


Jerzy Semkow is an exceptional individual in the world of conducting, patron of the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus and its initiator. His artistic interests include not only the great symphonic works – mainly classical and Romantic, but also opera music.

He was the artistic director of, among others, the Warsaw Opera, the first conductor of the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, director and first conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra in St. Louis (USA), as well as the Italian Radio Television Symphonic Orchestra RAI in Rome. His journeys have led through the most famous musical centres in the world. He performed, among others, with such renowned ensembles as: London Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, orchestras in Madrid, Monte Carlo, Oslo, Hague, Naples, Turin and St. Petersburg. In the United States, he cooperated with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, orchestras in Washington, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, San Francisco, as well as Montreal and Toronto orchestras in Canada. He has had guest appearances in, among others, Caracas, São Paulo, Sydney and Melbourne. His art of conducting is known in operas in Mediolan (La Scala), London (Covent Garden), Geneva, Rome and Florence.
The artistic achievements of Jerzy Semkow have been recorded by many phonographic companies, among others Columbia, EMI, His Master’s Voice, Fona and Polskie Nagrania. Many of them won prestigious awards in Poland and abroad.

In February 2005, the artist received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Fryderk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He is the first conductor to be awarded this title in the history of the Warsaw Academy. He is also the Knight Commander of the Arts et Lettres order.

Jerzy Semkow has been working with the youth for a number of years. He conducted, among others, concerts during the music festival in Aspen (Colorado), where some of the orchestras were comprised of students and professors from the best conservatories in the United States. He delivered a series of lectures on music at the Colorado State University. He conducted master classes at the famous American Yale University and the New York conservatory – Manhattan School of Music. In Poland, he significantly contributed to the creation of the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus.