Prof. Adam Kopyciński (1957-1963)

Born in 1907, died in 1982. He was a conductor, pianist, teacher, and composer. He graduated from the Conservatory of the Kraków Music Society, renamed the W. Żeleński School of Music in 1928. He continued his studies at the Meisterschule in Budapest (1933-1935) and at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków, where he studied conducting under Professor Walerian Bierdiajew (1945-1949).

In the prewar period, he was a choir conductor in Kraków and Katowice. From 1942 to 1945, he was a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. After the war, he worked as a repetiteur and choirmaster at the Kraków Opera (1946-1948), and also guest-conducted the orchestras of the Warsaw Philharmonic, Poznań Philharmonic, and the Great Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1949, he was associated with the Wrocław Opera, where he served as director (1951-1953 and 1961-1970), deputy artistic director (1951 and 1953-1961), and then conductor (1970-1976). He was also the principal conductor of the Wroclaw Symphony Orchestra (1954-1957), becoming its director in 1958 for three years.

At the State Higher School of Music in Wrocław, he served as Dean of the Teaching and Instructional Department (1956-1957), Rector of the State Higher School of Music (1957-1963), Dean of the Department of Music Theory, Composition and Conducting (1963-1973) and Head of the Department of Ensemble Conducting (1969-1973). He also taught a class in symphonic conducting, as well as score reading and accompaniment classes at the Vocal Tutoring Studio. He wrote songs and musical illustrations for the Polish Radio.