Adrian Thomas, a leading authority on Polish music, was recently awarded the Golden Gloria Artis medal for his outstanding contribution to the study and promotion of Polish music. Poland’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Witold Sobków, decorated Professor Thomas at London’s Royal Festival Hall at a ceremony accompanying the world premiere of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Symphony No. 4 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and maestro Andrey Boreyko.
Since the beginning of the 1970s, Professor Thomas has distinguished himself as musicologist, composer, conductor, lecturer, broadcaster and author of several books on Polish composers, including Górecki, Lutosławski, Bacewicz and Panufnik as well as Polish Music Since Szymanowski—a 2005 publication providing a broad overview of the major trends in Polish contemporary music. Thomas has also provided several entries on Polish music for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and New Grove Dictionary of Opera, as well as countless program notes for concerts and CD booklets.
Besides the Gloria Artis medal, Adrian Thomas has been recognized with the Polish Composers’ Union Award in 1989, the Order of Merit for Polish Culture given by the Polish Government in 1996 and the Lutosławski Society medal in 2005.
[Sources: thenews.pl , cardiff.ac.uk]