The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1946 by Sir Thomas Beecham, who the BBC called ‘the first international conductor from Great Britain’: in the 50s, along with the royal orchestra, he toured the USA, South Africa and Canada. In the past the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has performed with many distinguished bandmasters including Sir John Barbirolli, Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Georges Prêtre, Leopold Stokowski, André Previn, and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind, after hearing this show [the Pyotr Tchaikovsky music concert in London – author], that together Grzegorz Nowak and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra make a truly winning combination. I have heard quite a few performances by these musicians and Nowak always commands playing of the very highest standard from the orchestra. […] A towering interpretation and as fine a piece of orchestral playing as I have heard all year – wrote Bob Briggs on the MusicWeb International website.
The conductor from Poznań has been associated with the London orchestra since 2008. He will start his position as Permanent Associate Conductor on 1st January, 2015. Together with the royal orchestra, he has recorded many albums appreciated by the critics, such as piano concerts by Beethoven (2010, 2011), and symphonies by Schumann (2010) and Brahms (2013).
From 1970 to 1976, Grzegorz Nowak studied the violin and composition at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. He learned conducting under the supervision of Witold Krzemieński and Stefan Stuligrosz. Nowak’s conducting career started in 1984, when he won the Geneva International Music Competition. This award gave him access to the concert halls of Europe, Asia and North America. He has recorded for many phonographic labels such as KOS, CD Accords, Gallo Records, DUX, Hänssler Classic, and Sonoris. Many of his albums have been awarded (the Bronze Bell Award in Singapore – 1995, the Juno Award in Canada – 1998, the Fryderyk phonographic industry award in Poland twice – 1995 and 2000) and received critical acclaim.
Source: press materials, ed. fl, transl. szm, November 2014