performers (W)

conductor; b. 6 December 1953 in Lublin. In 1977 he graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin State Higher School of Music in Warsaw (Department of Music Education), and took up the post of lecturer at his alma mater. At the same time he continued his studies at the Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory, graduating in orchestral conducting in 1984. He developed his skills at the course for conductors in Berlin (1978). In 2013 he was granted him the state title of Professor of Musical Arts.

He began his conducting career as the choirmaster of the SGPiS (now - Warsaw School of Economics) Academic Choir in Warsaw and a teachers’ choir in Wołomin. Since 1984 he has held the post of choir director at the State Opera in Bydgoszcz. He prepared this choir for more than 60 premieres of operas, operettas, musicals and oratorios, as well as several concerts. Numerous times he also acted as music director of premiere productions. He has conducted performances in Poland and abroad. In 1989 he founded the Bydgoszcz Opera Chamber Choir, which performed until 1991.

His Opera Nova Choir’s performance (comprising 130 artists) of The Messiah by Georg Friedrich Händel under H. Wierzchoń won the ensemble the "Golden Mask" collective audience award of the "Dziennik Wieczorny" daily.

Henryk Wierzchoń is also a lecturer. Since 1985 he has been employed at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he is a professor at the Faculty of Conducting and teaches at three departments (Composition, Music Theory and Sound Engineering; Vocal and Acting; Choral Conducting and Music Education). He also conducts the Academy’s Symphony Orchestra. Since 1997 he has directed the A. Rubinstein Music Schools Symphony Orchestra in Bydgoszcz, with which he has given more than 130 concerts in Poland and abroad, including at the La Folle Journée Festivals in 2012-13. He sits on the juries of many choral and instrumental music competitions.

updated: November 2015 (wa)