He was a member of the Young Poland group, together with artists such as Karol Szymanowski, Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz.

During the first war he collaborated with Ballets Russes; he conducted the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's Mavra at the Opéra Garnier in Paris.

Throughout his career, he performed in various locations worldwide including Paris, Monte Carlo, Brussels, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Moscow, Bristol, London, The Hague, Buenos Aires, New York, Montreal and Toronto.

In 1947, he succeeded Witold Rowicki in leading the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, based in Katowice in the Silesian region.

His second wife, Halina Schmolz, was a ballet dancer who died in 1939, from wounds suffered during the bombing of the Poniatowski Bridge.