On the occasion of the May 3 national holiday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, President Andrzej Duda awarded the Order of the White Eagle to Stanisław Mieczysław Gebhard, a soldier of the Home Army, a prisoner of German concentration camps, an economist, politician and emigration activist.
Stanisław Mieczysław Gebhardt was born on July 13, 1928 in Poznań. He grew up in Krakow. In the years 1941-43 he was a scout for the Gray Ranks, in 1943 he joined the Home Army. In 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp and later to Mauthausen. After the liberation of KL Mauthausen, he returned to Poland, where he completed his so-called small graduation. Then he came through the “green border” to Italy, and then settled in Great Britain. In 1953 he graduated from the Polish University College in London, and in 1954 he completed courses in business management at the City of London College and political and social sciences at the Sorbonne (France). He was stripped of Polish citizenship by the communist authorities of the Polish People’s Republic.
In the years 1954-85 he was a member of the authorities of the Labor Party in exile. He co-founded and was involved in the activities of many Polish social and cultural organizations in exile, e.g. Union of Polish Students, Young Union of the Federal Union of Europe, Association of Former Home Army Soldiers, Macierz Szkolna, Group “Merkuriusza Council of Poland in Italy and the Polish Club in Rome. He has collaborated with Robert Schuman. He returned permanently to Poland after the fall of communism. In the years 1990-94 he was active in the reactivated Labor Party (SP), of which he was vice-chairman. In 1995-1998 he was vice president of the Polish Reconstruction Movement. In June 2020, he became chair of the Program Board of the Institute of Heritage of National Thought. Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
The Order of the White Eagle is the highest order of the Republic of Poland. It was established in 1705 and reactivated in 1921. It is awarded for “outstanding civil and military services to the Republic of Poland, both in peacetime and in wartime.” It is awarded to the most outstanding Poles and the highest representatives of foreign countries.
Profile of Joanna Maria Wnuk-Nazarowa
On the occasion of the May 3 national holiday, President Andrzej Duda awarded the Order of the White Eagle to Joanna Maria Wnuk-Nazarowa, a composer, conductor and teacher. The ceremony took place at the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Wednesday.
Joanna Wnuk was born on May 28, 1949 in Gdynia. He has lived in Krakow since he was five. He graduated from the State Music High School (piano theory diploma, she also took violin and oboe lessons). She studied conducting and composition at the Academy of Music in Cracow (degree in 1974 with Prof. K. Penderecki). She completed her studies in conducting master classes with Prof. H. Swarowsky (Austria, 1971-72). Since 1974 he has been a teacher at the Academy of Music in Cracow and a member of the Department of Music Analysis and Interpretation.
Theater music and music for TV Theater play an important role in the compositional work of Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa. In 1991 she won a competition for the position of general director of the State Philharmonic in Krakow. She was Minister of Culture and Art in 1997-99 on the recommendation of the Freedom Union.
From 2000 to 2018, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa was general and artistic director of NOSPR – one of the most important cultural institutions in Upper Silesia. At that time, she initiated many popular and innovative projects that promoted outstanding composers, local authorities point to NOSPR and Katowice – the city where Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Wojciech Kilar worked. On September 15, 2000, she became general and program director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice through a competition. She was the initiator and initiator of all the orchestra’s projects: Górecki’s Marathon, Train to Kilar’s Music, Musical Sea Travels, Kilar’s Day, Kilar’s Night, the Górecki-Penderecki Festival on the 75th anniversary of his birth, as well as the biennial Festival of Premières – Polish recent music.
She has been honored with many awards and honors, including Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Gold Cross of Merit, Silver and Gold Medal “Gloria Artis”, Gold Medal for Merit to National Defense, Gold Medal of the Guardian of National Memorials, Badge “Meritorious Cultural Activist”, Award of the Minister of Culture and Art of the 3rd degree for activities pedagogical prize, the Honorary Prize of the Polish Composers Union, as well as the Honorary Prize of Coryphaeus of Polish Music in 2018.
He is currently a member of the Honorary Committee of the International Music Competition. Karol Szymanowski, whose goal is to popularize Polish music all over the world and to perpetuate the importance of Szymanowski and his works in the minds of the recipients. The first competition took place in Katowice from September 10 to 23, 2018. During the closing gala, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for outstanding services in the development of Polish culture.
In 2021 Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa composed her first opera. The immediate reason to write “Wanda” was the celebration of the Cyprian Year of Kamil Norwid. The premiere of the full staging of the work took place on April 1, 2023 at the Krakow Opera.
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Source: wPolityce