By decision of the extraordinary general meeting of members of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association held yesterday (November 26, 2025) in Krakow, Andrzej Giza will replace Elżbieta Penderecka, who passed away on October 31, 2025, as president of the board of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association and general director of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. The board of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association will be supplemented by Dominika Penderecka and Iwona Dyrduł as vice presidents, and Ewa Siemdaj has become a member.
Andrzej Giza has been associated with the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival since 1997. In 2003, he co-founded the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, of which he has been director since 2008. He is the author of the Easter Festival advertising campaigns, which have twice been awarded by the International Festival Association (IFEA) in the USA. He is the originator and publisher of the quarterly Beethoven Magazine. He holds a PhD in humanities, is a historian and art historian, and completed postgraduate studies at the Institutes of Culture and Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He is a graduate of the Academy of Heritage at the Krakow University of Economics and the International Cultural Centre.
From 1997 to 2003, he coordinated the international promotion of the “Kraków 2000 European City of Culture” program. He co-authored campaigns promoting the Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Andrzej Wajda festivals, which created the “Kraków 2000” brand. He produced the European premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s “Credo” (Kraków, 1998). He produced the presentation of “Kraków 2000” at events such as EXPO 2000 and the Europalia Festival (Brussels, 2001). In 2004, he co-founded the Mayor of Krakow’s team for the Krakow Promotion Strategy for 2005-2015. From 2004 to 2016, he served as President of the Management Board of the Conspero Foundation. In the years 2004-2005 he was an advisor to the EXPO 2005 program office. Producer and coordinator of the cyclical Krzysztof Penderecki Festivals (Warsaw 2008, 2013, 2018, 2023). Initiator and producer of the “Chopinomania” project popularizing the work of Fryderyk Chopin in the Scandinavian countries in the year of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Co-founder of the Polish Culture Festival in China (since 2011). Co-author of projects promoting Polish culture during the Olympic Games (2012-2022) implemented in cooperation with the Polish Olympic Committee. Co-founder of the Festival of Romantic Compositions (since 2019). On April 1 of this year, on his initiative and under his leadership, the Ludwig van Beethoven Association organized a concert in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the death of Krzysztof Penderecki and the twentieth anniversary of the death of St. John Paul II.
A university lecturer and author of dozens of publications and scholarly articles, he has been awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his work on behalf of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the “Meritorious for Polish Culture” honorary badge, and the “Honoris Gratia” badge from the Mayor of Krakow, awarded for special contributions to the city.
