Jan Tomasz Adamus

Jan Tomasz Adamus is a conductor, organist, harpsichordist and cultural promotor specializing in the period performance of classical music ranging from Renaissance polyphony to Romantic symphony and opera. After his studies in Krakow and Amsterdam, he taught at the Academy of Music in Wrocław for a number of years. Many outstanding works of international musical repertoire have been performed for the first time on period instruments in Poland under his baton: Bach’s St Matthew Passion; Handel’s Messiah, Theodora, Hercules, Amadigi, Sosarme, Tamerlano and Rodelinda; Beethoven’s Missa solemnis; Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, to name just a few. He has performed at a number of prestigious festivals and venues in Poland, Germany and further afield. In 2008 Adamus was appointed General and Artistic Director of Capella Cracoviensis. As a cultural creator and promotor, Jan Tomasz Adamus stood behind the launch of Theatrum Musicum, a joint project developed by the music institutions of Krakow, where one of the largest classical music scenes in Europe has been developing. Since 2000, Adamus has been Artistic Director of the Bach Festival Swidnica, a remarkably organic, culturally creative event which is one of the largest and most highly regarded festivals outside the major centers of European musical life. Adamus’s numerous recordings include solo organ repertoire, Polish early music, Romantic repertoire on period instruments (Chopin, Schubert), and contemporary music (Arvo Pärt). Recently, together with Capella Cracoviensis, he has enacted a number of extremely innovative stage projects including operas, crossover projects and social performances (Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Händel’s Amadigi di Gaula, Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, Monteverdi in a milk bar, Mendelssohn performed by a choir in the forest, and Mozart’s Requiem as karaoke). He is involved in the work of Opera Europa, an international organization for opera houses and festivals from around the world.