Janusz Nowak, senior lecturer (1951-1953)

He was born in December 1896 in Bronisław, and died in December 1981 in Wrocław. He began his musical education at primary school in 1911, and continued it at the Teachers' Seminary in Wschowa. He learned to play the organ, piano and violin, but he particularly preferred learning to sing, having a special aptitude for it.

He deepened his musical studies at musicological seminars led by Rev. Prof. Władysław Gieburowski at the University of Poznań. In addition, in 1922 he completed a two-year course at the Conservatory, authorising him to teach music and singing in secondary general schools and teachers' seminaries, and then took up a job at the Teachers' Seminar in Czarnków. Between 1923 and 1926, he perfected his voice in the singing class of Władysław Malawski at the Poznań Conservatory, which he completed with his debut in the Bydgoszcz opera, creating the role of Ramfis in G. Verdi's opera Aida. Verdi's Aida. From 1927, he worked at a private music school, known as the Wielkopolska Music School, and at the Teachers' Seminar in Poznań.

In 1936, he became head of the Methodical Centre for Primary Schools. He spent the period of World War II in Radomsko, working as a German translator. After returning to Poznan (in 1945), he was appointed docent and later professor at the State School of Music, where he taught singing methodology at the Faculty of Pedagogy. From 1947 to 1950, he served as dean of the Pedagogical Faculty. In 1951 he moved to Wrocław, where he became the rector of the State Higher School of Music - a position he held until 1953. - and led the singing class. He educated 17 graduates, and in addition to teaching at the Wrocław academy, he also ran the singing class at the State Secondary Music School in Wałbrzych (1956-1962).

Pedagogical work was not the only occupation of Janusz Nowak, for he devoted most of his time to choir-master activities - as a singer (bass), accompanist, speaker and organiser of musical life, he took part in up to several dozen concerts a year. He was repeatedly decorated for his active social and cultural activities, including the Commander's Cross and the Knight's Cross: Commander's and Cavalier's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the badge of Meritorious Cultural Activist, Meritorious for the Voivodship and the City of Wrocław, the Gold Badge of SPAM, the Medal of the 50th anniversary of the State Higher School of Music in Poznań (1920-1970) and Awards of the Minister of Culture and Art.