Witold Rowicki

Rowicki was born in Taganrog, Russian Empire in 1914. He arrived in Poland in 1923, attending schools in Żywiec and Nowy Sącz before matriculating at the conservatory in Kraków. He studied violin under Artur Malawski and theory under director Michał Piotrowski and made his conducting debut, while still a student, in 1933. Graduating in 1938, he was appointed professor of violin at the conservatory and spent the occupation years in Kraków.

After the Soviet expulsion of the Nazis from Poland, Rowicki revived the defunct Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, which had disbanded during the war, in Katowice. Between 1950 and 1955, and again between 1958 and 1977, Rowicki was the director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, leading the orchestra on multiple foreign tours and receiving several decorations from the Polish government. He later moved to West Germany and directed the Bamberg Symphony from 1983 to 1985. He died in Warsaw in 1989.

Rowicki was most strongly associated with the Warsaw Philharmonic, but he also made recordings as a guest conductor with orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (all in London), the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, and the Wiener Symphoniker. His recordings include:

• a Dvořák symphony cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra,Anderson, Robert, Review of Dvořák Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (1971). The Musical Times, 112 (1545): p. 1077.
• works of Wojciech KilarSamson, Jim, Reviews of recordings of Bolesław Szabelski and Wojciech Kilar (1989). Tempo (New Ser.), 169: p. 52.
• the Violin Concerto,Banks, Paul, "Karłowicz Riches" (1989). The Musical Times, 130 (1762): p. 753. Eternal Songs and Lithuanian Rhapsody[https://www.discogs.com/Mieczys%C5%82aw-Kar%C5%82owicz-Muzyka-Symfoniczna/release/10245606 Polskie Nagrania Muza XL 0006] of Mieczysław Karłowicz
• various works of Karol Szymanowski.Macdonald, Hugh, Review of Szymanowski Stabat Mater Op. 53/Symphony No. 3 Op. 27 (1981). The Musical Times, 122 (1656): p. 113.Dunnett, Roderic, "The Review Section: Records - Szymanowski" (November 1990). The Musical Times, 131 (1773): pp. 603-604.
• Schumann and Prokofiev piano concertos with Sviatoslav Richter; Mozart piano concertos with Ingrid Haebler and the London Symphony Orchestra

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• [http://www.teatrwielki.pl/ludzie.php?action=search&full=1&id=458 Biography (in Polish)]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/03/obituaries/witold-rowicki-75-polish-conductor-dies.html?pagewanted=1 Obituary]

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{{succession box |title=Music Director, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra | before=[orchestra defunct under wartime occupation] | years=1945–1947 | after=Grzegorz Fitelberg

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{{succession box |title=Music Director, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra | before=Władysław Raczkowski | years=1950–1955 | after=Bohdan Wodiczko

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{{succession box | title=Music Director, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra | before=Bohdan Wodiczko | years=1958–1977 | after=Kazimierz Kord

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{{succession box | title=Chief Conductor, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra | before=James Loughran | years=1983–1985 | after=Horst Stein

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Category:1914 births

Category:1989 deaths

Category:People from Nowy Sącz

Category:People from Taganrog

Category:Polish male conductors (music)

Category:Burials at Powązki Cemetery

Category:20th-century Polish conductors (music)

Category:20th-century Polish male musicians

Category:Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)

Category:Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland

Category:Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland

Category:Chief conductors of the Bamberg Symphony

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