Gałoński Stanisław, *6 May 1930 Ostrivets (near Ternopil), Polish conductor. Between 1949 and 1953, he studied musicology at the Jagiellonian University. In 1955, he graduated in conducting under W. Krzemieński and B. Wodiczka at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków. Initially, he worked as an organist; from 1955 to 1958, he was the choir conductor at the Kraków Philharmonic, and from 1958 to 1961, he was the conductor and choir director at the Miejski Teatr Muzyczny in Kraków. At the same time, he taught at the State Secondary Music School in Kraków (1954–61) and later at the State Higher School of Music in Gdańsk (1966–68), leading vocal and instrumental ensembles. In 1961, he took part in the “Vacanze musicali” seminars in Venice, and in 1962 and 1963 in S. Cape’s seminars in Bruges, devoted to the performance of early music. Between 1961 and 1970, he was the director and conductor of the Cappella Bydgostiensis pro Musica Antiqua ensemble at the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz. Since 1970, he has led the Cappella Cracoviensis at the Krakow Philharmonic (an independent institution since 1 January 1983). On his initiative, the annual Starosądecki Festiwal Muzyki Dawnej was established in 1975. Gałoński is the artistic director of this festival and of the Muzyka w Starym Krakowie festival (since 1976). In 1982, he founded the Rorantist ensemble to cultivate the Rorantist repertoire.
Gałoński has undertaken numerous concert tours across Europe and has taken part in many music festivals both at home and abroad. On 8 May 1981, he performed at the Vatican in a special concert for Pope John Paul II and the Roman Curia, presenting the finest examples of early Polish sacred music. Focusing on the performance of early music, Gałoński presents his own interpretative approaches; he was the first in Poland to introduce solo countertenor singing and the playing of certain early instruments. He has made archival recordings of early music (both Polish and foreign) as well as the classical and contemporary oratorio and cantata repertoire. He is the author of musical scores for plays, shows, films and television series, as well as numerous arrangements of early music.
