Department of Instrumental Studies

The Department of Instrumental Studies is the largest Department at the Chopin University of Music; it has around 450 students and approximately 200 teachers. It was founded in 1946 and as a result of the transformations resulting from the Act 2.0, in 2018 it acquired its current form after the merging of the Department of Piano, Harpsichord and Organ and the Department of Instrumental Studies.

The Department boasts its numerous honorary doctors, e.g. Regina Smendzianka, Tadeusz Wroński, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Piotr Paleczny and honorary professors – such as Krzysztof Jakowicz, Stefan Kamasa, Bronisława Kawalla, Jerzy Marchwiński, Kazimierz Michalik, and Józef Serafin. The The following Rectors were Department teachers: Regina Smendzianka, Tadeusz Wroński, Andrzej Chorosiński, and Kazimierz Gierżod. Also the current Rector, His Magnificence Tomasz Strahl, is professor at the Department of Instrumental Studies.

Among the most outstanding graduates from the previous decades we should list the pianists Piotr Paleczny, Janusz Olejniczak, Piotr Anderszewski, Takashi Yamamoto, violinist Krzysztof Jakowicz, violist Ryszard Groblewski, cellist Marcin Zdunik, accordionist Klaudiusz Baran, who has been Rector of the UMFC for the last two cadences, or saxophonist Paweł Gusnar. The Department’s graduates are prize-winners at the most important competitions in Poland and abroad, e.g., the International Chopin Piano Competition, Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition, International ARD Competition in Munich, and many others.

The showcase of the Department of the Instrumental Studies is the Symphony Orchestra, the Chopin University Chamber Orchestra, the Chopin University Big Band (in cooperation with the Jazz and Stage Music Department) and the Chopin University Baroque Orchestra, which was established on October 1, 2024. Its pedagogues pursue active teaching and artistic activity, performing on the most significant stages in Poland and abroad; in recent years they released approximately 100 albums and won around a dozen “Fryderyk” awards.