Artistic Director
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Music begins with an encounter.
Artistic Director of the Gwiazdy Promują Festival
Tomasz Strahl
Dear Music Lovers,
It is with great pleasure that I invite you to the jubilee 25th edition of the Gwiazdy Promują National Festival. For many years, this exceptional event has held a special place in Poland’s musical landscape, bringing together distinguished masters and gifted young artists at the beginning of their careers on a shared stage.
The idea behind the Festival is particularly close to my heart. As both a musician and an educator, I know how profoundly an encounter with a master can shape a young artist’s development. Making music together, sharing experiences, finding inspiration and building mutual trust are all essential elements of artistic growth. Perhaps the most compelling testimony to the enduring value of this vision is the fact that many musicians who once appeared at our Festival as emerging talents have since become acclaimed figures in the world of music. Some now return to the stage in Jelenia Góra as established masters themselves, passing on to a new generation what they once received.
This anniversary is also an occasion for reflection and gratitude. I would like to take this opportunity to express my particular appreciation to my predecessor, Professor Roman Lasocki, whose artistic vision and many years of dedication have played an invaluable role in shaping the Festival’s history and reputation.
As a native of Jelenia Góra, I find it especially meaningful to contribute to this remarkable event in my hometown. I am deeply grateful to the management and staff of the Lower Silesian Philharmonic, to all the artists who have accepted our invitation, and to you—our ever-loyal audience—for helping us write the successive chapters of the Festival’s history together.
May the musical encounters of this jubilee edition bring you moments of profound emotion, fresh inspiration and unforgettable artistic experiences.
02 / BIOGRAPHY
Tomasz Strahl
Tomasz Strahl is one of Poland’s foremost cellists. He graduated in 1989 from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with Professor Kazimierz Michalik. As a scholarship holder of the Austrian Government, he subsequently completed a one-year postgraduate course with Tobias Kühne at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
A prizewinner in numerous national and international competitions, Strahl received First Prize at the 5th Nicanor Zabaleta International Music Competition in San Sebastián, Spain, in 1991. In 1994, he was also awarded a scholarship by the Polish-Japanese JESC Foundation. He has worked with many distinguished conductors, including Andrzej Boreyko, Jan Krenz, Henryk Czyż, Philippe Entremont, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Antoni Wit, Wojciech Michniewski, Tomasz Bugaj, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Jerzy Salwarowski. His extensive concert career has included appearances with Sinfonietta Cracovia, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic, and the São Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Strahl has performed at venues including the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, St John’s Smith Square in London, the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, Toppan Hall in Tokyo, L’Auditori in Barcelona, the Glinka Hall in Saint Petersburg, the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, and the Warsaw Philharmonic. He has undertaken numerous concert tours of Japan, Canada, and Spain. One of the important events in his artistic career was a performance of Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto in the presence of the composer, conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk in 1993. At the 2005 Festival of Premieres, Strahl gave the Polish premiere of Piotr Moss’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. With the same ensemble, he recorded Zygmunt Stojowski’s rediscovered Cello Concerto in 2006.
He has made numerous archival recordings for Polish Radio and Polish Television, as well as for CBC Radio in Canada. His discography includes releases for Pony Canyon, CD Accord, Pavane Records, Gema Stereo, Polmusic, Acte Préalable, and Sony Classical. He received three nominations for the Fryderyk Award and won the award in 2003.
Tomasz Strahl is a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He gives masterclasses in Poland, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Japan, and South America, and serves on the juries of numerous national and international cello competitions. Since 2012, he has been involved in promoting the National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin, edited by Professor Jan Ekier, performing Chopin’s works for piano and cello at major European music centres. His collaboration with the National Edition also resulted in an album of Chopin’s chamber works released by DUX. The recording received distinctions from the music magazines Scherzo and Pizzicato and was nominated for a Fryderyk Award.
Strahl has received numerous state and ministerial honours. He was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit in 2002, the First-Degree Award of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage for artistic and educational achievement in 2009 and 2017, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2010, and the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis in 2021. In 2019, he received the Fryderyk Award for Symphonic and Concert Music Album of the Year, followed in 2020 by another Fryderyk Award for Chamber Music Album of the Year. In 2021, his commemorative sun was unveiled on the Festival Avenue of Stars in Busko-Zdrój.
The artist performs on a cello made by Leopold Widhalm in Nuremberg in 1778.
From 2012 to 2024, Tomasz Strahl served as Dean of the Faculty of Instrumental Studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, the largest faculty of its kind in Poland and one of the largest arts faculties in Europe. During his three terms in office, the Faculty underwent a series of major transformations. New areas of study were introduced, including early music, which attracts a growing number of students each year, as well as jazz and world music. Following the implementation of the Constitution for Science 2.0, jazz and world music became part of a separate faculty within the University. As a result of the same legislation, the Faculty of Harpsichord, Piano and Organ was incorporated into the Faculty of Instrumental Studies.
In 2016, the Faculty received an outstanding institutional assessment from the Polish Accreditation Committee. The Faculty is currently awaiting a Certificate of Excellence in Education following its 2022 accreditation. A number of ensembles promoting the University internationally were also established within the Faculty, including the Chopin University Big Band, the Chopin University Chamber Orchestra, and the Chopin University Modern Ensemble.
Tomasz Strahl was elected by the academic community of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music to serve as Rector for the 2024–2028 term.