Aleksander Bardini

Aleksander Bardini 17 November 1913 30 July 1995 was a Polish actor theatre director artistic director and educatorBorn in Łódź to a Jewish family after finishing high school in 1932 he studied violin and performed in the string quartet of the Jewish Music Association as well as in a Jewish cabaret In 1935 he graduated from the Acting Department of PIST in WarsawHe worked as an actor at the Municipal Theatre in Wilno Vilnius 19351936 and at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw 1938 In 1939 he joined the COP Travelling Theatre For the 193940 season he was engaged by the Municipal Theatres in Lwów Lviv where he remained until 1941 working as both actor and directorDuring the German occupation he was initially in the Lviv ghetto then hid in a private apartment He returned to the Polish Dramatic Theatre in Lviv in 1944 where he served as a member of the artistic council director actor and head of the acting studio until the companys evacuation in August 1945In the 194546 season he moved with the Lviv ensemble to the Municipal Theatre in Katowice He had planned to join the Polish Army Theatre in Łódź for the 194647 season but after the Kielce pogrom in July 1946 he decided to emigrate Between 1946 and 1950 he lived in the USA Canada and West Germany working manual labour and collaborating with the Jewish theatre in MunichHe returned to Poland in 1950 Until 1957 he worked as a director at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw His greatest achievement of that period was the first postwar staging of Adam Mickiewiczs Dziady Forefathers Eve He also occasionally appeared as an actorIn the 195758 season he was artistic consultant and director at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź From 1958 to 1960 he served as director and artistic manager of the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw Between 1960 and 1964 he was an actor and director at the Contemporary Theatre Teatr Współczesny in Warsaw before returning to the Polish Theatre for the 196465 season Afterwards he worked as a freelance director staging productions in Poland and abroadHe also directed opera productions he was a great lover and connoisseur of music He frequently collaborated with Polish Television hosting highly popular music programmes featuring amateursA talented and very popular educator from 1950 to 1982 he taught at the Acting Variety and Directing Departments of the Warsaw State Theatre School later also in Łódź He became associate professor in 1950 and full professor in 1966 He also taught at the Warsaw Academy of Music codirected and lectured at summer music courses in Austria and the Netherlands at the drama department of the University of Georgia USA and at the musicdrama school in StockholmHe held many positions in ZASP Polish Actors Association ZAiKS authors society and the Jewish Historical Institute member of the scientific councilHe was the father of Maria Bardini editor and producer of Television Theatre productionsHe died in Warsaw and was buried in the catacombs at the Old Powązki Cemetery