Gabriel Chmura (2013)

Conductor and promoter of Mieczysław Wajnberg's music. Born on 7 May 1946 in Wrocław, he died on 17 November 2020. He began his musical education with Adam Kopyciński, former director of the Wrocław Opera. In 1957, he emigrated with his family to Israel, where he continued his education. In 1964, he began studying composition, conducting and piano at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. In 1968-69, he studied conducting at the École Normale de Musique in Paris with Pierre Dervaux, and then at the Vienna Academy of Music under Hans Swarovsky and Franco Ferrary in Siena.

Gabriel Chmura was artistic director of the Opera in Aachen (1974-83), the Bochumer Symphonie (1983-87), the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (2001-2007), principal guest conductor of the OFUNAM Orchestra in Mexico City and the Deutsches Symphonische Orchester Berlin. From the 2012/2013 season, he served as artistic director of the Grand Theatre in Poznań, and from 2015 he was the first guest conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic. He has collaborated with numerous orchestras in Poland and abroad, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Orchestra Filharmonica di Roma, and Nürnberger Philharmoniker. In Poland, he has conducted, among others, the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra in Gdańsk, and the Grand Theatre – National Opera Orchestra in Warsaw.

He made his debut in 1974 with Giuseppe Verdi's Otello at the Munich Opera, where he then staged Georges Bizet's Carmen. His later productions include Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah in Barcelona, Jules Massenet's Werther at the Paris Opera and Le coq d'or at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Among his most important productions are also works by Mieczysław Wajnberg: The Passenger (Warsaw) and Portrait (Nancy), both directed by David Poutney, Dmitri Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and Richard Wagner's Parsifal staged at the Grand Theatre in Poznań. In addition, he brought about the performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (TW Poznań 2018) after more than a hundred years of absence from Polish stages.

Together with the London Symphony Orchestra, he made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as with the Münchener Rundfunk Orchester and Rundfunk Symphonischer Berlin for Columbia Broadcasting System. The discographies under his baton have received numerous awards: the recording of F. Schubert's Lazarus was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Mondial de Montreux, and the recordings of J. Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 6, 7 and 8, made with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for CBS, were recognised as Best Choice by American Record Guide and nominated for the Canadian Juno Award. Following the success of the first two albums with music by M. Weinberg, released by Chandos (Symphony No. 5, Sinfonietta No. 1, Symphony No. 4, Sinfonietta No. 2 and Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes), Gabriel Chmura proceeded to record the composer's Symphonies Nos. 14 and 16. In addition, he recorded W. A. Mozart's Da Ponte Cycle (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte) with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

He is the winner of many prestigious awards in leading conducting competitions around the world, including first prize at the Besançon Conducting Competition (1970), the Gold Medal at the Concorso Cantelli in Milan (1971), and first prize at the Herbert von Karajan Competition in Berlin (1971).

In recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements and in honour of his special contributions to the development of musical culture and artistic life, the Senate of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław honoured the artist by awarding him an honorary doctorate in 2013.