Join us for the New Year’s Concert
The Rector of the University of Wrocław, prof. Robert Olkiewicz, invites the entire university community to the New Year Concert.
In the Aula Leopoldina of the University of Wrocław, the audience will hear the Symphony Orchestra of the University Philharmonic conducted by Viktor Kuznetsov. The concert will be hosted by prof. Jan Miodek, and the performers will include Elżbieta Cabała (soprano), Tomasz Dziwisz (tenor) and Viktor Kuznetsov (violin). The concert will be conducted by Bartosz Żurakowski.
Admission is free (limited number of seats available).
Elżbieta Cabała – soprano
A vocalist, teacher and musicologist, Elżbieta Cabała is a graduate of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław and the University of Wrocław. She refined her skills in masterclasses led, among others, by Helena Łazarska, Andrzej Dobber and Ewa Biegas. She made her debut with the Opole Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and in subsequent years collaborated with the orchestras of the Opole, Sudety and Subcarpathian Philharmonics, the Lviv Virtuosi and the Metropolitan Orchestra Bratislava. She has performed at festivals in Poland and abroad, presenting oratorio, operatic and operetta repertoire. Her roles include Serpina (La serva padrona), Despina (Così fan tutte), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Norina (Don Pasquale) and Zuzia (Verbum nobile). She has also performed numerous oratorio works, including Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor and Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She is the founder and president of the “Opera Viva” Artistic Foundation, a recipient of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Wrocław. She pursues an active concert and teaching career.sopran
Tomasz Dziwisz – tenor
A graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied in the class of dr Adam Szerszeń, Tomasz Dziwisz made his operatic debut at the Silesian Opera in Bytom in December 2014 as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni under the baton of Maestro Krzysztof Dziewięcki, and also appeared at the Częstochowa Philharmonic. In recent years he has worked with conductors including Michał Klauza, Tadeusz Serafin, Sławomir Chrzanowski, Francesco Bottiglieri, Mirosław Błaszczyk and Jarosław Wolanin. He has participated in festivals such as Night of Churches, Mikołów Music Days and Viva il Canto. He currently collaborates with the Silesian Philharmonic and the Silesian Opera. He is a prizewinner of the Tenors’ Tournament in Słupsk (2016) as well as international vocal competitions including “Bella Voce” in Busko-Zdrój (2021) and the “Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský” Competition in Trnava (2021). In 2016 he made his debut at the Warsaw Chamber Opera as Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri under the baton of Ruben Silva. Recently he has also appeared as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Silesian Opera and in Ostrava under Paolo Gatta. At the Silesian Opera he also performs operetta roles, including Ottokar in Johann Strauss’s The Gypsy Baron and Zoltan in Frederick Loewe’s musical My Fair Lady. He has also appeared as Gastone in Verdi’s La traviata under Bassem Akiki (dir. Michał Znaniecki) and as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore under Franck Chastrusse Colombier.
Wiktor Kuzniecow – violin
A violinist and virtuoso, Viktor Kuznetsov is a laureate of the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań (1986) and the Niccolò Paganini International Competition in Genoa (1987). He lives and works in Wrocław, performing regularly in Poland and abroad, including in Germany, Norway, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Ukraine. Music critics emphasise his exceptional artistry and distinctive interpretative style. Since his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2004, he has appeared there as a soloist. He is the founder and artistic director of the Wrocław Ricordanza Soloists Ensemble and the Johann Strauss Wrocław Festival Orchestra. With these ensembles he has recorded numerous albums, including a reconstruction of Paganini’s 1829 Violin Concerto (Wratislavia Cantans, 2002). The album Musica Sacromontana, recorded for the J. Zeidler Music Society, received the Fryderyk Award in 2008. Since 1991 he has taught a violin class at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, and since 2002 he has served as Vice-President of the Wrocław Concert Society.
Bartosz Żurakowski – conductor
A highly regarded Polish conductor, Bartosz Żurakowski has been repeatedly praised by Polish and international critics. After a concert with the Scottish Opera Orchestra in 2014, the newspaper Herald Scotland compared him to the legendary Neeme Järvi. He is the founder and president of a foundation supporting young artists and the originator and artistic director of the “Belle Voci” International Music Festival. He also directs the Sacred Music Festival “Masters of Prayer through Music” and the International Viennese Music Festival. He has performed in many prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto, the Gran Teatro Nacional in Lima, Sala São Paulo in Brazil and the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. He has also conducted at the Lviv Opera and performed in over 40 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. He has collaborated with outstanding soloists such as Kaja Danczowska, Shlomo Mintz, Ingolf Wunder, Ewa Podleś, Małgorzata Walewska and Agnieszka Rehlis, as well as composers including Wojciech Kilar and Krzysztof Penderecki. His discography includes numerous recordings, among them two albums with the Sudety Philharmonic Orchestra featuring the music of Jan Adam Maklakiewicz (2021, 2023). He is a recipient of the “Personality of the Year” award of Gazeta Wrocławska (2019), the “Meritorious for Polish Culture” distinction (2021), and the “Marshal’s Talents” scholarship (2023). He serves on the juries of international piano and vocal competitions and, since 2019, has been Principal Conductor of the Johann Strauss Wrocław Festival Orchestra.
Date of publication: 23.01.2026
Added by: EJK
