Antoni Wit
Veteran conductor Antoni Wit has been a major champion of Polish contemporary music but also has a wide repertory of music from many countries. He was conductor of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, and then the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra for many years.
Wit (pronounced Vit) was born in Kraków, Poland, on February 7, 1944. He attended the Kraków Academy of Music (then the State Higher Academy of Music), studying conducting with Henryk Czyż and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki. After graduating in 1967, he went on to serve as assistant to Witold Rowicki at the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra while earning a law degree at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 1969. He benefited from relatively liberal Polish travel policies and was able to study conducting in Paris with Pierre Dervaux at the Ecole Normale de Musique and composition privately with the famed teacher Nadia Boulanger. Wit went on to attend conducting classes at the Tanglewood Music Center in the U.S. with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Seiji Ozawa in 1973. He then became the conductor and artistic director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland from 1974 to 1977, moving on from 1977 to 1983 to the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Chorus. During this period, he began a long track record of conducting new Polish music, leading the premiere of Penderecki's Lacrimosa in 1980.
Wit became the conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, in 1983, remaining in that position until 2000. With that group, he made his recording debut in 1988 on the Titanic Records label, backing violinist Roman Totenberg in concertos by Brahms and Karol Lipiński. In 1993, he led the orchestra in a cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies for the Naxos label, and he has remained associated mostly with that label over his long and prolific recording career. Wit became the conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic in 2002, remaining there until 2013. He was also the principal guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in Spain from 2010 to 2017, and he made numerous appearances as a guest conductor around Western Europe with such major groups as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Italy, and several top British orchestras.
He has remained active as a guest conductor and recording artist, releasing albums with many of the orchestras with which he has been associated. In 2022, Wit moved to the Capriccio label, leading the Rheinland-Pfalz Staatsphilharmonie in a recording of works by early 20th century composer Zygmunt Stojowski; he followed that up in 2023 with an album of works by 19th century composer Zygmunt Noskowski. By that time, his recording catalog comprised some 300 items, seven of which were nominated for Grammy Awards. Wit taught conducting for many years at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Concerto pour violon - Caprice andalous
Dong-Suk Kang, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Concerten voor viool - Released by Naxos on 31 mei 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MAHLER: Adagio
Ewa Podles, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 12 mrt. 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musique pour chœur et orchestre
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, Ewa Wolak, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Koormuziek - Released by Naxos on 27 dec. 2011
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Symphonies n°1 & 4
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan Krzysztof Broja, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 8 apr. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 / The Storm
Antoni Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 11 okt. 1993
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lutosławski: Opera omnia, Vol. 8
Antoni Wit, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, National Forum of Music Choir, Aleksandra Kurzak
Koormuziek - Released by CD Accord on 14 jan. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (Highlights)
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Halasz, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos Special Projects on 26 aug. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Taras Bulba - Danses de Lachie
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 26 mrt. 2012
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Piano Concerto, Op. 33 / The Water Goblin
Jenő Jandó, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Concerten voor klavier - Released by Naxos on 3 jun. 1994
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Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Faust Fantasy
Marat Bisengaliev, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 22 nov. 1996
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Piano Concert.2&3
Jenő Jandó, Idil Biret, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, György Lehel, Antoni Wit
Concertmuziek - Released by Naxos on 1 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wienawski: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Fantaisie brillante on themes from Gounod's Faust, Kujawiak in A minor & Obertas
Vadim Brodski, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Antoni Wit, Tomasz Michalak
Klassiek - Released by DUX on 1 jan. 2003
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Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, Thomas E. Bauer, Christiane Libor, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 31 mrt. 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra - Cello Concerto
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Rafał Kwiatkowski, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by DUX on 26 jul. 2005
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Stabat Mater
Iwona Hossa, Ewa Marciniec, Jarosław Bręk, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Koormuziek - Released by Naxos on 19 sep. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto pour piano n°1 - Fantaisie sur des airs nationaux polonais - Krakowiak
Eldar Nebolsin, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 24 aug. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Piano Concert
Bernd Glemser, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Concertmuziek - Released by Naxos on 26 jul. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Witold Lutoslawski : Symphony No. 4 - Violin Partita - Chain II - Funeral Music
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Krzysztof Bakowski, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 17 jun. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ouvertures
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 4 dec. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Concertos for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Bamberger Symphoniker, Begoña Uriarte, Karl-Hermann Mrongovius, Antoni Wit
Concertmuziek - Released by Arts Productions Ltd on 7 nov. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Ryszard Minkiewicz, Antoni Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 25 mrt. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo