Quick Facts
Biography
Robert Satanowski (January 20, 1918 – August 9, 1997) was a Polish general who later became a major European orchestra and opera conductor.
Life
Military career
A teacher with a background in engineering, during World War II he joined the Soviet-aligned Polish resistance in Volhynia where he became a leader of his own group of partisans. Later he joined the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie, where he reached the rank of a general. Later he joined the Polish Navy, but in 1949 he resigned from the military.
Music career
He started a career in music, becoming the director of Lublin Philharmony (1951-1954) and Bydgoszcz Philharmony (1954-1958). Later, he studied opera production and became the artistic director of opera in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), Poznań (1963–65), Kraków (1975–77), Wrocław (1977–82), Warsaw (1981-91), and Aachen (1991–92). He also worked as a guest conductor across Europe, North America, as well as Iran and Turkey.