Szymon Bywalec studied conducting with Jan Wincenty Hawel at the Music Academy in Katowice (diploma with distinction), where he is currently a faculty member. He is also a conductor of the Academy’s Student Orchestra, working closely on some projects with such renowned conductors as Krzysztof Penderecki and Gabriel Chmura. He is also a graduate of the Music Academy in Kraków, where he studied oboe with Jerzy Kotyczka.
He continued his education thanks to a grant from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, attending masterclasses for conductors given by Gianluigi Gelmetti (2001) and Lothar Zagrosek (2002, Diploma di Merito). He also took part in masterclasses led by Gabriel Chmura and Kurt Masur. He won First Prize at the 2nd National Young Conductors’ Competition in Białystok (1998), and two special awards (including one from the conductor Antoni Wit and Zofia Wit) at the 6th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conductors’ Competition in Katowice (1999). He has held a grant from the Minister of Culture and Art and has also received the award from the President of the City of Katowice for his artistic achievements.
As a guest conductor, he has performed with many orchestras in Poland and abroad, including the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the Miskolci Szimfonikus Zenekar, Camerata Strumentale ‘Cittą di Prato’, the Polish Opera Orchestra (concerts at the Gewand-haus in Leipzig and the Konzert-haus in Vienna) and the Silesian Chamber Orchestra.
He is a permanent conductor of the New Music Orchestra, with which he has performed at many festivals of contemporary music, including the Warsaw Autumn (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003), Silesian Days of Contemporary Music and Melos-Ethos in Bratislava. They have many world and Polish premieres to their credit, recordings for Polish Radio, as well as a cd debut (nominated for the ‘Fryderyk’ Award in 2003).
In 2000 Szymon Bywalec founded the Chamber Orchestra ‘Ars Musicae’, which specializes in the early music repertoire, and the vocal ensemble ‘Cappella Theoreticorum Cantans’, with which he gave many concerts, including
a Bach series. He is also in charge of the Karol Szymanowski Youth Orchestra in Katowice.