Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He received his musical education in Warsaw, Minsk and Berlin. He served as a church organist in Vilnius. In1858 he returned to Warsaw, where he became the conductor of the Opera Theater and professor of the Music Institute (Conservatory). He composed over 15 operas, a number of cantatas, around 30 piano pieces (including the Polonaises which were published by Liszt) and over 400 vocal compositions. Moniuszko’s opera “Halka” (1848), which achieved immense popularity (was produced in Prague by Bedřich Smetana in 1868), became the first Polish national opera.
