ANDRZEJ BIAŁKO

Born in Kraków in 1959. He graduated from the class of piano at a State Secondary Music School. In 1973 he took up organ lessons, initially private, which he continued into the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, joining the class of Prof. Joachim Grubich. In 1981 he won the 1st prize at the International Organ Competition in Rome, and in 1985 another 1st prize (ex aequo) at the Polish Organ Competition in Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk. He has participated in most Polish organ festivals and given concerts in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Liban, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine, and both Americas. He holds the title of Professor in Musical Arts and runs his own class of organ at the Academy of Music in Kraków holding the position of full professor, he also teaches at the Władysław Żeleński State Secondary Music School in Kraków. Music lovers will always remember his performances of all Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ works in Kraków and Wrocław in the 2000 jubilee year and his presentation of an anthology of organ works composed between 16th and 20th centuries which he gave in Kraków in the 2001/2002 season in a series of 20 concerts under the title ‘Ars organi’. The artist’s extensive and constantly expanding repertoire covering all styles includes the complete set of the organ works written by Buxtehude, Bruhns, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Franck, and Liszt. The tape collection of the Polish Radio’s Channel II includes a number of his recordings. He has recorded 30 CDs. In 2006, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage awarded him the Silver Medal, and in 2020, the Gold Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture. Between 2016 and 2020 he was the Vice-Rector at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music, and in the years 2020–2024 he was the head of the Chair of Organ and director of the Doctoral School.