About us

About us

The Karol Szymanowski Music Society with headquarters in the Villa Atma in Zakopane 

has beenAtma in operation since 1977. Its objective is to promote and popularize the life the music of Karol Szymanowski , the greatest Polish composer after Chopin.

The Society carries out its mission through:

  • Music festivals:
    • Karol Szymanowski Days (held in Zakopane since 1977) : a July event
    • Evenings with the music of Karol Szymanowski (held in Katowice since 1997): a March event
  • Concerts in Poland and abroad:
    • Autumn Musical encounters: celebrating anniversaries of the composer’s birth (held in Zakopane)
    • March Chamber Music Evenings: commemorating anniversaries of the composer’s death (held in Zakopane)
    • concerts in collaboration with the Anna and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Museum in Stawisko
    • concerts in collaboration with the University of Warsaw Library;
    • concert series abroad: „Not just Szymanowski” – 2011, 2012
  • National competitions:
    • Knowledge competition on Szymanowski’s life and music (open to secondary school level students of Poland’s High Music Schools)
    • Instrumental competitions: piano, violin, voice (open to secondary school level students of Poland’s High Music Schools; held from 1987 to1994)
  • International competitions:
    • Composition competition
    • String quartet competition
  • Exhibitions on the life and work of Karol Szymanowski,
  • Publications

The Society relies on membership dues and donations to fund all its activities.
The members of the Executive Committee are not remunerated for their service.

Honorary members include:

  • Artur Rubinstein
  • Światosław Richter
  • Henryk Szeryng
  • Witold Lutosławski
  • Witold Rowicki
  • Teresa Chylińska
  • Andrzej Bachleda,
  • Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
  • Wojciech Kilar
  • Sir Simon Rattle
  • Maciej Pinkwart
  • Karol Rafał Bula

The founding congress of the Society was held on October 1, 1977 in the Villa Atma.