prof. dr hab. Paweł Paluch
Professor dr hab. Paweł Paluch graduated in the class of the accordion from master degree studies in instrumental music at the Academy of Music in Kraków in 1987. In 1994 he received his doctoral degree from the Council of the Instrumental Faculty of the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, and in 2002 he obtained higher doctorate (Habilitazion) in musical arts from the Council of the Instrumental Faculty of the G. & K. Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź. In 2020 the President of the Republic of Poland made him Professor of Arts.
He was assistant (1988–94) and assistant professor (1995–2003) at the Department of Musical Education of the Higher College of Teacher Training (WSP) and later the Institute of Music in Rzeszów. Beginning with 2003, he was associate professor at the Faculty of Music (2014–19) at the University of Rzeszów. He was also assistant (1989–94) and assistant professor (from 1994) at the Instrumental Faculty of the Academy of Music in Kraków. Currently he holds the post of professor at both the academies. In 1995 he also began teaching at the Music School No. 1 in Rzeszów (as certified teacher since 2010). He has also been Teacher Training Consultant in Accordion in Artistic Schools (1995–2000); member of the Main Board of the Polish Accordionists Association (1990–2000); expert of teacher examination and qualification boards for the Ministry of National Education (from 2001) and of the Central Committee for Professional Teacher Qualifications; at the WSP (today: the University of Rzeszów) in Rzeszów he has held the following positions: had of the Department for Studying Music of the Regions at the Institute of Music (2007–19), member of the editorial board of Muzyka academic journal (Zeszyty Naukowe UR), Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Art (2005–08), member of the Programme Council of the University of the Third Age (2007–08), and the deputy director (2008–10) and director (2010–13) of the Institute of Music, as well as a member of the Senate Committee for Staff Development, Academic Research, and International Cooperation (2008–12). Since 1995 he has been the musical director of Resovia Saltans Song and Dance Ensemble, and from 2019 a member of the Academic Council of the Humanities College of the University of Rzeszów. In 1990–2019 he was also a member of the Intercollegiate Department of the Accordion of the Academy of Music (currently the Chopin University of Music) in Warsaw. He has been the degree tutor of several dozens of BA and MA students, and of four doctors of arts. His Forma sonatowa w literaturze akordeonowej (literally: “The sonata form in accordion literature”) was published by AMFC, Warszawa 2003. He composed around 30 works and arranged over one hundred pieces for various performing forces.
Winner of multiple awards and prizes at national and international competitions, Paweł Paluch boasts the 1st Prize at the International Phonographic Competition in Prague in 1981, the 3rd Prize at the Polish Accordion Competition in Białystok in 1985, and the 1st Prize at the International Accordion Competition Klingenthal in Germany (GDR) in 1985.
Paweł Paluch has performed several hundred concerts as chamber musician and soloist (also with symphony orchestras) in Poland and abroad. He has released CDs and DVDs, and made recordings for the radio and the TV. Frequently invited to serve in regional, national, and international festival and competition juries, he has also conducted auditions for the Centre for Artistic Education and conducted accordion workshops and seminars in music schools throughout the country. His students have won key prizes, distinctions, and honours at Polish and international competitions and festivals, and also at CEA auditions.
The artistic, educational, and community services have won Paweł Paluch a range of honours, notably the Decoration for Merit to Culture (1995), Silver Medal for Long Service (2013), and the prizes of the rectors of the University of Rzeszów and the Academy of Music in Kraków (2014), and the director of the Music Schools No. 1 in Rzeszów, as well as the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Diploma (2013) and the Medal of the Commission of National Education (2019).