The academy is the only one in Poland to have two winners of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (Halina Czerny-Stefańska and Adam Harasiewicz) as well as a few further prize-winners among its alumni.

[1] The academy was founded in 1888 by the eminent Polish composer Władysław Żeleński thanks to his artistic connections and patronage of Princess Marcelina Czartoryska, a concert pianist and former pupil of Frédéric Chopin.

The newly opened school was inspected by Joseph Dachs and Johann Fuchs, both professors of the Vienna Conservatoire, and received their enthusiastic opinion.

The professorial staff included such names as Zbigniew Drzewiecki, Jan Gall, Zdzisław Jachimecki, Egon Petri and Severin Eisenberger.

Closed during the Nazi occupation of 1939–1945, especially after Sonderaktion Krakau in 1939, the conservatoire continued its activity underground and finally reopened on 1 September 1945, becoming the State Higher School of Music as of 1 February 1946 under its first rector, Prof. Zbigniew Drzewiecki.