Szlifirski, Krzysztof (EN)

Szlifirski Krzysztof, *13 February 1934 Warsaw, Polish sound director, acoustician and academic teacher. He graduated from the Faculty of Communications of the Warsaw University of Technology, specialising in electroacoustics (1960). In 1957–58, he studied film at the State Institute of Art in Warsaw. In 1990, he obtained second-degree artistic qualifications in sound engineering, and in 1997, the academic title of professor of musical arts. From 1962, he taught classes at the Faculty of Sound Engineering of the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw (currently the Chopin University of Music), from 1973 as a senior lecturer. In 1981, he was appointed to the position of associate professor, and in 1998 to the position of full professor. He taught, among others, classes in electroacoustic music engineering, lectures on musical acoustics and the history and aesthetics of electroacoustic music. He is a co-creator of the concept and program of timbre solfège – a unique subject aimed at developing the timbre sensitivity of hearing. In 1981–85, 1990–96 and 1999–2004, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Sound Engineering, and in 1996–1999 as Vice-Dean. In 2003–04, he was Head of the Department of Musical Acoustics. After retiring in 2004, he gave lectures in the form of commissioned classes until 2018. He is the Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Sound Engineering. He has also lectured at the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (1966–74), at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Warsaw (1977/78) and at the Faculty of Radio and Television of the University of Silesia in Katowice (1979–81). He has given guest lectures in the United States: at Pennsylvania State University (1992), City University of New York (1992) and Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos (1998).

Szlifirski is, together with Józef Patkowski, the co-founder of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio, which he co-directed in 1958–85, and directed from 1998 until the Studio was dissolved in 2004. As a producer of electroacoustic music, he has collaborated with many outstanding composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Andrzej Markowski, Andrzej Dobrowolski, Bernardetta Matuszczak, François-Bernard Mâche, Arne Nordheim and Lejaren Hiller. Together with Józef Patkowski, he composed and produced electroacoustic music for films, theatre and television performances and radio plays. He is the creator of the concept of the technical equipment of the Experimental Studio and the designer of innovative devices used for the production of works and the reconstruction of sound recordings. He participated in many international conferences and courses devoted to electroacoustic music, including the Darmstadt Summer Courses (1962). He was a member of the expert groups of the Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision, OIRT (1968–92) and the European Broadcasting Union, EBU (1992–96), which dealt with the aural assessment of music recordings. He founded the Aural Assessment Group at the Central Broadcasting Station of Polish Radio, which operated in 1971–81. He is the author of publications devoted to the issues of electroacoustic music production and the assessment of the quality of sound recordings.

For his achievements, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Golden Cross of Merit. He is a three-time winner of the Minister of Culture and Art award for his teaching, educational and artistic activities. In 2015, he received the title of Honorary Professor of the UMFC awarded by the Senate of the University.