JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI

Conductor and composer, a graduate of the Grażyna Bacewicz Public School of Music in Warsaw. He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music with a master’s degree in choral conducting in the class of prof. Ryszard Zimak, and in composition in the class of prof. Paweł Łukaszewski.

In 2012, Jakub Szafrański founded the Male Vocal Group Foyer, of which he was the conductor and musical director. He currently works as the second conductor of the Choir of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and as the second conductor and composer in the Archcathedral Male Choir Cantores Minores. In 2016, the Women’s Choir of the Warsaw School of Economics, led by him, won the 1st prize at the 1st International Cantu Gaudeamus Competition in Białystok. Also conducted by him, that same ensemble was awarded second prize (the first was not awarded) at The Prof. Georgi Dimitrov International May Choir Competition in Varna in the Men’s and Women’s Choirs category (2017). As a conductor, he also runs the senior’s choir “Uśmiech” at the Śródmieście Cultural Center in Warsaw. He collaborated in projects with the choir of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Allegrez del Canto choir, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music choir, and many others.

Jakub Szafrański also conducts academic research focusing on Polish choral music from the interwar period and contemporary compositional techniques used in choral music (the latter topic was the focus of his doctoral dissertation). In 2013, on the basis of the manuscripts collected at Warsaw University Library, he reconstructed Missa pro defunctis by J.A. Maklakiewicz, and in April of the same year, he conducted the post-war premiere of this composition with the male vocal group Amici at the St. Martin church in Warsaw.

In 2015, he founded the Artistic and Research Choir Conducting Club at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and since 2017, he has been working as a teacher at his alma mater. He also conducts educational activities outside the university, organizing choral workshops and a series of concerts “Klasycznie Niepoważni” at the KADR Cultural Center.

Jakub Szafrański’s compositions are performed at concerts and festivals all over the world. As a composer, he has received multiple awards during competitions, including the first prize at the 57th Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers. His work is included in the repertoire of many Polish and foreign ensembles, such as the New Music Orchestra, the proMODERN vocal sextet, Art’n’Voices, Voces8, the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, the Poznań Chamber Choir, the Polish Chamber Choir, Kammerchor Hannover, World Youth Choir and Janua Muzika from Vilnius. Jakub Szafrański’s works were published by Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG Weihergarten, Walton Music, Ars Musica, Polska Muzyka Chóralna XXI, and many of them were also recorded and released on CDs.

From January 2022, he is the Chorus Master of the Chorus of the Polish Royal Opera.