Artistic Director of the Alexander Tansman International Festival and Competition of Musical Personalities
Musician, musicologist, teacher and publisher. Born in 1953 in Łódź. He graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Łódź where he had studied Classical Guitar under professor Aleksander Kowalczyk and Composition under professor Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski. Later on he studied Art Management at the Warsaw School of Economics.
In 1980-1986 Andrzej Wendland was lecturing at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, focusing his research interest on the interpretation and performing technique of J. S. Bach's works, including their transcriptions and adaptation for guitar.
As a guitarist he performed in Poland and Europe (Germany, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Hungary), solo and with chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Łódź Philharmonic conducted by Jansug Kakhidze. He made recordings of film music (e.g. with Jerzy Maksymiuk), and recorded for the Polish Radio.
Musicologists such as Józef Powroźniak for instance counted him among the first-rate performing musicians who contributed to the revival of classical guitar music in Poland. Wendland is a laureate of Polish competitions, e.g. of the Second Prize and the Special Prize for the interpretation of Spanish music at the National Classical Guitar Competition in 1979 in Poland. In the same year he won the Third Prize at the National Composer Competition organised by the Polish Institute of Music. His Two Impromptus for guitar solo has been popular among musicians ever since. He also won prestigious prizes at international competitions of interpretation and guitar music, e.g. in Gargnano (Fourth Prize, 1977) at the Oscar Ghilglia Competition (with Ghilglia as the president of the jury), or in Volos (Second Prize, 1980) at the Costas Cotsiolis Competition.
In the 1990s Andrzej Wendland focused on musicology, namely the history of music and of performing guitar music. He used to publish in professional Polish and foreign journals such as Soundboard (USA), Gendai (Japan), Gitarre & Laute (Germany), Classical Guitar (Great Britain), Staccato (Italy), Les Cahiers de la Gitarre (France) etc. Among the most important publications one should mention: "Problems of rhythm and ornamentation in performing baroque music", "Guitar in the Renessaince and Baroque", "Articulation in the 19th-century guitar music", „Interpreting issues in the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos", "La guitarre dans l'œuvre d'Alexandre Tansman", "Die Gitarre im Schaffen von Aleksander Tansman", "Aleksander Tansman's Cavatina. Teil 1: Preludio und Sarabande. Teil 2: Scherzino und Barcarole".
In 1996 he published a book Guitar in Alexander Tansman's Oeuvre. Janusz Cegiełła commented on it as follows: "Wendland has wonderfully completed Tansman's biography, adding a thorough musicologist study on Tansman's guitar music. His ambition and lack of compromise made him discover mistakes in the publications of the composer's works by Tansman's editor in France! Let me congratulate him from the bottom of my heart and express my true respect and admiration."
Since 1989 he has been editing and publishing guitar literature of the 19th and the 20th century at the Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (PWM - Polish Music Publishers), e.g. M. Giuliani, Le Rossiniane, opp. 119-124; M. Giuliani, Studies, opp. 1, 49; F. Sor, Studies, opp. 6, 29, 31, 45, 60; A. Wendland, Guitar Master Class - Legato; Ph. Ernst, Air de l'Opera 'Le Barbier de Seville' pour guitarre et flute, op. 9; A. Tansman, Deux chansons populaires, transcription for two guitars - A. Wendland.
In 1998 Wendland published for the 1st time in Poland Sonate Facile, op. 16 and Sonate Progressive, op. 17 by Wenzeslaus Thomas Matiegka, based on manuscripts found in Polish libraries.
In 1992 Andrzej Wendland became a member of the Board of the Polish Institute of Music. In 1996-1997 he was a member of the organising comittee of the Year of Alexander Tansman. He is the author of the idea and the Artistic Director (since 1996) of the Alexander Tansman International Festival and Competition of Musical Personalities. He was also a consultant at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Andrzej Wendland's name appears in Polish and foreign lexicons of classical guitar, e.g. Gitarren-Lexikon edited by A. Quadt, W. Pauli, R. Bratfisch and K. Lachout (Verlag Neue Musik Berlin, 1988) and its extended editions (Gendai, 2000). Wendland has been guest lecturing, sitting on juries of chamber music and guitar music, and actively participating in conferences and seminars.
