Karol Lipiński University of Music in Wrocław

The history of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music goes back to November 1948, when Wrocław received a State University School of Music. At the time it was the fifth university in the city and the seventh university school of music in Poland. Initially it exclusively had the Teaching Department; in 1949 the Vocal Department was set up, and in 1950 – the Instrumental Department and the Department of Theory of Music and Conducting, and was extended shortly afterwards with the Section for Composition. The four-department structure has survived with only minor modifications throughout the history of the school, with the number of fields of study offered to students being gradually increased. 1972 saw the establishment of the Section for General and Applied Music Therapy – the first research institution of its kind in Poland – and the initial enrollment of students who wanted to study the subject. In 2001 the Academy set up the Section for Jazz Music, and so became the second centre in Poland (after Katowice) to train professional jazz musicians. In 2002 the Instrumental Department began accepting students who desired to specialize in playing Baroque/period instruments. In 1981 the name of the institution as a whole was changed from the State University School of Music to the Academy of Music. At the same time it was named after Karol Lipiński (1790-1861), an outstanding violin virtuoso, who in 19th-century Europe was regarded as an equal to Niccolò Paganini. A major fact in the later history of the school was the change of its location in 1993, which ensured the integration of the academic community that had previously been spread among several buildings. In 1998, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its establishment, the Academy granted its first honoris causa doctorate; it was given to conductor Tadeusz Strugała, one of its most eminent graduates. In the following years the honorary title of doctor was conferred on other outstanding artists and personalities of the world of culture, including some world-famous figures, such as conductors Kurt Masur (1999) and Stanisław Skrowaczewski (2004), and singers Maria Fołtyn (2000) and Teresa Żylis-Gara (2003).