prof. dr hab. Marzena Diakun

In 2005, she graduated with honours in symphonic and opera conducting from the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, where she studied under Prof. Mieczysław Gawroński. She was a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture. In 2006, she completed postgraduate studies in the class of Prof. Uros Lajovic at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

She is the winner of the 2nd prize Silver Baton at the 9th G. Fitelberg International Competition in Katowice (2012) and the 2nd prize at the prestigious 59th Conducting Competition as part of the Prague Spring Festival (2007). She was also a finalist in the W. Lutosławski International Conducting Competition (2006) and a semi-finalist in the Quadaques Competition in Barcelona and the Donatella Flick Competition in London (2008).

She honed her skills at national conducting courses with Jerzy Salwarowski (1999), Marek Tracz (2001) and Gabriel Chmura (2003), as well as international courses under the direction of Colin Metters, Howard Griffiths and David Zinman as part of the Orpheum Conductors Master Class in Zurich (2003), Pierre Boulez during the Master Conducting Studies in Lucerne (2011) and Kurt Masur at the 1st Master Courses for Conductors (2004).

She made her debut in 2002 (second year of studies) conducting the final concert of the 17th International Percussion Music Festival with the Koszalin Philharmonic.

In 2003, she was Jerzy Maksymiuk's assistant during rehearsals for a concert with the Koszalin Philharmonic.

Working with Marek Tracz's concert agency, she has toured Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and China several times. As a guest conductor, she has worked with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Czech Radio Philharmonic in Prague, the Sinfonietta in Zlin, the Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlin, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rzeszów Philharmonic Orchestra, the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra, the Connecticut Chamber Viruosi (USA) and the Berg Orchestra (Prague).

In 2006, Marzena Diakun was assistant to Andrey Boreyka at the Berner Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. In 2012, she was assistant to Richard Rosenberg at the National Music Festival in Chestertown (USA) and conducted a series of concerts with the festival orchestra.

Since 2009, she has been the principal conductor of the Spanish contemporary music ensemble Smash Ensemble, with which she has premiered numerous works by Spanish composers in concerts in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Lithuania.

In 2010, she obtained a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Academy of Music in Krakow, under the supervision of Prof. Tomasz Bugaj. Since 2011, she has been an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Wrocław.