Monika Wolińska

On 18th October 2009 Monika Wolińska made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. At the same time it was first performance ever, of Polish female conductor in this concert hall. After this concert which ended with great success, famous American critic David Dubal said: „Monika has, what many conductors are missing, and that is sensitivity to the actual sound of the instruments”. Monika Wolińska was born in Chełm, and began her music education at the age of six learning to play the violin. She is a threefold graduate in music, having obtained a master’s degree in vocal and instrumental ensembles (Prof. Janusz Stanecki’s class) and in the violin class (Prof. Henryk Bałaban’s class) at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. Finally, in 2003 she became a graduate of the symphony and opera conducting class of Prof. Ryszard Dudek at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. Monika Wolińska continued her education actively participating in various master courses conducted among others by Kurt Masur and Pierre Boulez. Since 2003 she has collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, and since 2004 has acted on a regular basis as an assistant of Maestro Jerzy Semkow. In the season of 2007/2008, she performed the duty of the permanent conductor of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, as well as assistant of Krzysztof Penderecki. Monika Wolińska performed her concerts with many orchestras in Poland and abroad including: Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw, Lucerne Music Festival Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Moscovia Chamber Orchestra, Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus and with the majority of philharmonic orchestras in Poland. She has performed as conductor in many prestigious festivals. In 2004 she made her debut in the Lucerne Music Festival. In 2007 she performed in the International Festival of Music in St Petersburg, where she conducted orchestra and choir of the Anton Rubinstein Conservatory of St. Petersburg. Also in 2007 she made her debut in the International Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music. Monika Wolińska made many first performances and archive recordings of symphonic compositions, the majority of which were written by contemporary Polish composers. Since 2003 she has been a lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, in Warsaw, where in 2012 she was awarded the degree of habilitated doctor in the field of music arts, the discipline of artistic conducting. In 2005 she published a book entitled “Stanisław Wisłocki – Conductor and Pedagogue”. In 2011, Monika Wolińska received an honorary award of the the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage With Merit to the Polish Culture.