The K. Wiłkomirski Youth Cello Competition invites young cellists, students of 1st and 2nd level music schools across Poland, as well as international competitors, and offers them an oportunity to present their skill. The Competition is run in two stages, and the competitors are divided in three age groups – up to 13, up to 15, and up to 17 years old. The Competitions are organised by the Tadeusz Szeligowski 1st Level Music School no. 2 in Poznań, and run in a bi-annual cycle. The organisers are supported by the Poznań City Council and the The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Initially, the Competition had a regional character. It achieved a national status in 1992, and in the consecutive years it invited young artists from abroad, including: Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Kazachstan, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine. Exceptional cellists and lecturers of Polish music academies, as well as international artists, were members of the jury in all editions.
The chairpersons of the jury included: 1991-2002, Prof. Andrzej Zieliński (Warsaw Music Academy); 2004, Prof. Kazimierz Michalik (Warsaw Music Academy); and in 2006-2008, Prof. Stanisław Pokorski (Poznań Music Academy). Prof. Pokorski and Prof. Stanisław Firley (Łódź Music Academy) acted as jurors from the competition’s first edition, until 2008. Other members of the jury included: Prof. Krzysztof Sperski (Gdańsk Music Academy), Prof. Urszula Marciniec-Mazur (Wrocław Music Academy), Prof. Zdzisław Łapiński (Kraków Music Academy), Mgr. Jadwiga Ewald (Gdańsk 1st and 2nd Level Music School), Mgr. Arkadiusz Broniewski (Poznań Music Schools Group).
International jury members included: Prof. Stanislav Apolin (Prague Music Academy), Prof. Cecylia Barczyk (Towson University, USA), Prof. Michael Flaksmann (Hochschule für Musik Mannheim), Prof. Bedřich Havlik (Brno Music Academy), Prof. Angelica May (Hochschule für Musik Wien), Prof. Nikolai Szczerbakow (Minsk Music Academy), Prof. Werner Taube (Hochschule für Musik Stuttgart), Prof. Victoria Yagling (Helsinki Music Academy), Prof. Jan Haliska (Ostrava Music Academy), Prof. Rimantas Armonas (Vilnus Music Academy), Prof. Markus Nyikos (Universität der Künste Berlin).
The teachers, reviewers and the public agree that the Kazimierz Wiłkomirski Youth Cello Competitions in Poznań greatly contributed to the high level of skill and ability among Polish cello students.
The artistic paths of the numerous laureates confirm the sense of the jury and the status of the Competitions. Many of them became students of the best music academies in Europe and the US, won prestigious international competitions and continued their career as soloists and teachers. Among them are: Arkadiusz Dobrowolski, Katarzyna Górska, Rafał Kwiatkowski, Jarosław Domżał, Michał Dmochowski, and Marcin Zdunik.

Kazimierz
Wiłkomirski
Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1900-1995) studied in the years 1911-17 at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow with Alfred von Glehn (cello). In 1919-23 he continued his studies at the Conservatory in Warsaw in the composition class of Roman Statkowski and conducting with Emil Młynarski, graduating with honors. At the same time, in 1919-21 he worked as a cellist in the orchestra of the Warsaw Opera.
After the war, in 1945-47, he was the rector and professor of conducting at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź. From 1947 to 1952 he was the director and first conductor of the State Philharmonic and Opera in Wrocław, at the same time being a professor of conducting, and in 1950-52 the dean of the 1st Department of the State Higher School of Music in Wrocław. In 1952-57 he was the director of the State Opera and Philharmonic in Gdańsk and a professor at the State Higher School of Music in Sopot. From 1963 he lived in Warsaw, where he was the head of the Department of Chamber Music at the State Higher School of Music.