Born in 1982 in Poland, Krzysztof Urbański graduated from the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he studied with Antoni Wit among others. He won First Prize at the Prague Spring International Conducting Competition in 2007 and received the Leonard Bernstein Award in 2015. He served as Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2011 to 2021 and as Chief Conductor and Artistic Leader of the Trondheim Symphony (2010-2017). In 2017 he was appointed Honorary Guest Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony and Opera. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony (2012-2016) and Principal Guest Conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester (2015-2021). In November 2022 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana succeeding Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Urbański has appeared as a guest conductor with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony among others.

Highlights of his 2023/24 season include debuts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Moreover he returns to the Münchner Philharmoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Bamberger Symphoniker, Dresdner Philharmonie, Wiener Symphoniker, Philharmonia Zürich, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

With the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester he recorded albums of Lutosławski’s works, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and R. Strauss’ works; all on Alpha Classics. His discography also includes Chopin’s small pieces for piano and orchestra with Jan Lisiecki and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon which received an ECHO Klassik Award and Martinů’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Sol Gabetta and the Berliner Philharmoniker recorded for Sony.

This is his second appearance at PMF, following his debut at PMF 2011.

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