Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny

Artiscic Work

In the years 2000-2014, she led the Medici Cantantes Choir of the Medical University of Wrocław, which she founded. Winning the highest awards in choral competitions in Poland and internationally, she led the group to the rank of one of the best academic choirs in Poland. In the years 2006-2021, she was artistic director of the National Forum of Music Choir, building it from the beginning according to her own vision of a “choir of soloists”. She is the originator and artistic director of the nationwide educational project called the Polish National Youth Choir, established in 2013. In the years 2015-2022, she was programme director of the Choral Academy – a project subsidised by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, financially and substantively supporting the activities of almost 300 children’s and youth choirs and their conductors through trainings, concerts, competitions, conferences, publishing works of music and methodology books. In the years 2013-2016, she was a curator of the “Music” project of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016, co-implementing a music programme consisting of several hundred events.

With the choirs she directed, she has performed over 1,300 choral works and almost 300 vocal-instrumental works, made 22 CD recordings and many premieres of Polish music. She has performed in, among others, the Royal Albert Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Paris Philharmonic and Salle Pleyel, London Barbican Centre, Moscow International House of Music, Bozar in Brussels and other important European music venues. She has prepared choirs for conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Paul McCreesh, Krzysztof Penderecki, Iván Fischer, Pascal Rophe, Lawrence Foster, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Andrzej Boreyko, Steven Layton, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Robert Reimer, Konrad Junghänel, Andreas Mustonen, Toñu Kaljuste, Giovanni Antonini, Andreas Spering, Carlo Rizzi, Dennis Russel Davies, and Charles Dutoit.

She has performed at festivals in Türkiye, the United States of America, Russia, Israel, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, the Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Brazil.

As a conductor, she has worked with such ensembles as: the National Forum of Music Choir, Gabrieli Consort, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir, Chor der Bamberger Symphoniker, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Sudeten Philharmonic Orchestra, Opole Philharmonic Orchestra, Cappella Gedanensis, Wrocław Soloists’ Ensemble Ricordanza, Chamber Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Wrocław, Festival Choir of the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, Silesian Philharmonic Choir, and the Choir of the Grand Theatre in Poznań.

Teaching Activities

Agnieszka is enthusiastic about pedagogy, educating choral conductors and choristers at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, the University of Music in Warsaw, and during numerous master classes and workshops in academic and artistic centres across Europe. Invited to be a vocal consultant and juror at choral, vocal, and composition competitions.

She is a happy wife and mother of three children. Since September 2022, she has served as general director of the Sudeten Philharmonic in Wałbrzych.

Awards and Distinctions

Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny has recorded 22 albums and has over 70 solo and group awards to her credit, including, while still a student: 1st prize and two special awards in the National Choral Conducting Competition (2004), 1st place in the Lower Silesian Competition for the Best Student of the Republic of Poland Primus Inter Pares (2004). For her artistic and academic work she received:

• Badge of Honour for “Merit to Polish Culture” (2008)

• Wrocław Music Prize (2010)

• Internet Users’ Award in the Person of the Year 2011 competition

• “Iuvenes Wratislaviae” Award of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2012)

• Bronze Medal for Merit to Polish Culture – Gloria Artis (2014)

• Fryderyk Awards 2017 and 2019

• in 2018, the Choral Academy project she programmed was nominated for the “Coryphaeus of Polish Music” Award.

Reviews

I have worked side by side with Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny for over 10 years. She is an excellent musician, an excellent choral coach and a wonderful, helpful colleague. We began working together at the beginning of the Wrocław Philharmonic Choir, which has already become an established choir of the National Forum of Music.
Paul McCreesh

It is always a privilege to work with Agnieszka. We have collaborated on several choral projects over the last few years, and I admire the high level she is able to achieve with her singers. She is very demanding, absolutely professional, and I know she inspires everyone who is lucky enough to work with her.
Giancarlo Guerrero

Agnieszka is a versatile, outstanding person, active on many fronts, a wonderful conductor, teacher and organiser. Together with the NFM Choir she has achieved a beautiful sound, and her interpretations are always in line with my intentions.
Paweł Łukaszewski

Agnieszka has an extraordinary gift – she knows how to reach the sources of the composer’s creative intentions. I felt this way after the wonderful interpretation of my Pater noster, which was heard for the first time in our country today.
Jacek Sykulski

The strongest point of the oratorio – both in terms of composition and performance – were the excellently sounding choral parts performed by the National Forum of Music Choir and the Polish National Youth Choir. The choristers demonstrated good vocal technique, and proved themselves both in the parts maintained in motet form and those using imitation technique…
Ruch Muzyczny