The idea of the competition was initiated at the Michał Spisak Festival, which was held in Dąbrowa Górnicza in 2005 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of this outstanding composer born in Dąbrowa Górnicza. This artistic project succeeded the Michał Spisak National Music Competition in 2006, whose format was later changed into an International Competition and is still organized as such. The competition is organized by the City of Dąbrowa Górnicza and Pałac Kultury Zagłębia in Dąbrowa Górnicza. Since the first edition of the competition, the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice has been providing content-related supervision. Every year the competition is held in different specialties and is composed of three stages (rounds). The last, 3rd stage of auditions is with the accompaniment of an orchestra. The competition is addressed to young musicians who are under 29 years of age. It is annually attended by several dozen of performers not only from Poland, but also from abroad and its laureates have significant artistic achievements all over the world, thus making the Polish culture, our city and region known.

History of the competition:

19 - 20.09.2005 Michał Spisak Music Festival

19 - 25.09.2006 1st Michał Spisak Polish National Music Competition

18 - 27.09.2007 1st Michał Spisak International Music Competition

5 - 14.09.2008 2nd Michał Spisak International Music Competition

5 - 14.09.2009 3rd Michał Spisak International Music Competition