Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego

HIRE LIBRARY CATALOG WEBSHOP PBM

Composers

Zbigniew Turski

1908-1979

Turski Zbigniew, *16 X 1908, Warsaw (not 21 VII 1908, Konstancin), †7 I 1979, Otwock, Polish composer and conductor. He studied composition with P. Rytel (Diploma in 1937) and conducting with W. Bierdiajew at the State Conservatory of Music in Warsaw. In 1936-39 he was music director of Polish Radio in Warsaw. He spent the German occupation in Warsaw. From 1945 to 1946 he was artistic director and conductor of the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk; in the period from 1948 to 1949 he taught at the PWST in Warsaw; from 1959 to 1960 he served as President of PCU; and in the years 1957 to 1973 music director of the Contemporary Theatre in Warsaw, with whom he collaborated until the end of life as a writer of music for theatrical performances. In 1948 he received the gold medal at the Olympic Arts and Letters Competition, on the occasion of the XIV Summer Olympics in London for the 'Olympic' Symphony; in 1955 awarded the Minister of Culture and Art’s Award and second prize at the Polish Music Festival; in 1957 PCU Award "for overall outstanding compositional activities"; in 1960 Prime Minister's award for works for children and youths; and in 1968 State Award second degree for his compositions, especially in the fields of music theatre, radio and film. Most of Turski’s pre-war compositions were burned during the Warsaw uprising.