[maˈtɛuʃ gvizˈdawa]
Top prize-winner of the 2023 Kodály International Conducting competition, Mateusz Gwizdałła (he/him) is an Australian-Polish conductor-composer based in Helsinki, Finland. He is currently finishing his Masters studies at the Sibelius Academy with prof. Sakari Oramo. This year Mateusz has performed with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, with the latter he performed a program including his composition Allegro Furioso for string orchestra.
Apart from Oramo, his teachers have included Eva Ollikainen, Johannes Schlaefli, Jorma Panula, Kenneth Montgomery, Antony Hermus, Martyn Brabbins, Dima Slobodeniouk, Leo McFall, Christoph Altstaedt, Johannes Fritzsch, Luke Dollman and Benjamin Northey, among others. He previously studied conducting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland, under prof. dr hab. Monika Wolińska, and he holds a double degree Bachelor of Jazz Composition and Bachelor of Performing Arts (theatre making) from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
In Finland, Mateusz has performed with Tapiola Sinfonietta, Oulu Sinfonia, Joensuu City Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Vaasa City Orchestra, as well as ensembles and orchestras from the Sibelius Academy such as the new music ensemble NYKY and the Opera Department in production. In Poland, he has worked and performed with the Szczecin Philharmonic, the Białystok Opera and Philharmonic, and the Szczecin Opera house Opera na Zamku where he held a 2 year tenure as assistant conductor. Finally, in Australia Mateusz has performed with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Mateusz has a passion for working with student, amateur and semi-professional music ensembles, having made appearances with the Yliopiston Soittajat (Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra), the Polytech Orchestra in Espoo, the Utrechts Studenten Koor en Orkest in the Netherlands, and Exaudi Youth Choir, Boroondara Brass, and Lyric Opera of Melbourne in Australia. This season he will be conducting Kirkkonummi Chamber Orchestra in a program of Coleridge-Taylor and Beach, and next season he will be artist-in-residence for a week at the East Tennessee State University to conduct a concert program with their Symphony Orchestra.
Besides conducting, Mateusz works as tenor section leader for the Musiikkitalon Kuoro, the chorus for the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. This year he takes the role of chorus master for their performances of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
