Boguslaw Kaczynski passed away in Warsaw on January 21. He was 73. Not only was he a journalist, music theorist, popularizer of opera and operetta, TV presenter, and author of many TV broadcasts, but Kaczynski was also the founder of the Jan Kiepura European Festival in Krynica and world-famous Music Festivals in Łańcut. Between 1994 and 1998, he also served as the artistic director of ROMA Music Theatre in Warsaw. His successes are highlighted by the amount of admiration and the impact that he has made on overall industry as cited from the external news service of Polish Radio:
“Ewa Iżykowska, rector of the Frederic Chopin Music University in Warsaw, says that Kaczyński’s love of opera began after taking lessons from the great soprano Ada Sari: “One could say that he was the father of the operatic community in Poland; who dedicated his life to promoting classical music and in particular opera [and] Polish singers.”
Sławomir Pietras, former director of several operatic theatres, adds: “His television career led millions of people in Poland to be interested in the art of opera. Perhaps not everyone started going to the opera but they perceived him as an authority, someone who could talk about opera in an attractive way; he was an authority of whom opera directors were afraid, […] there were no compromises with him in art.”
Polish Radio Two’s Aleksander Laskowski says: “He was wonderful in what he did because of his charisma, knowledge, eloquence and great charm, which attracted crowds of people to music in an inimitable way… and he knew how to talk to people about music, responsibly. “He knew all of the greatest artists, starting with Luciano Pavarotti. He had the ability to talk to these great people, which also required knowledge. Because artists are finely tuned to any falseness, whether in compliments or plain conversation, and he never struck a false note.”
[Sources: polmic.pl, boguslaw-kaczynski.pl]