During interwar period, the Municipal Conservatory of Music raised as the leading music school in the city, thanks to the quality of the pedagogical team: among them was Józef Paderewski (1871–1958), brother of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Bydgoszcz conservatories trained many respected musicians and music educators, including Alfons Rezler (conductor, founder of the Municipal Symphony Orchestra in 1938) and Marta Suchecka (violinist, educator). During the Nazi occupation, the Municipal Conservatory of Music has been converted into a German school. Von Winterfeld Conservatory of Music ceased its activities in 1944, after the death of its Director. Post-war attempts (1945–1974) After the end of World War II, the process of rebuilding a music education system in the city started over. The Municipal Conservatory of Music resumed its activities, in its own building at Gdańsk Street 71. The school kept its instruments and an almost its complete teaching staff. However, within the new socio-political education system, the Conservatory was soon nationalized. As a result, and several years later, emerged the Primary Music School and the State Secondary School of Music. Although since 1946, Bydgoszcz put efforts to have a Music University created, ministerial decisions only established an Academy of Music in Gdańsk. In parallel, in the 1950s, several musical institutions were established in Bydgoszcz: Pomeranian Philharmonic; Opera Studio; First and Second degree Music schools. This movement intensified the needs of a local environment regarding higher musical education, as regularly advocated in the 1960s by Andrzej Szwalbe, director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic and Konrad Palubicki, professor of the national State Academy of Music in Gdańsk. Branch of the Academy of Music in Łódź (1974–1979) The efforts to set up in Bydgoszcz a Music Academy found the support of the central government in July 1974. This approval allowed the rector of the Academy of Music in Łódź, Zenon Ploszaj, to establish on the 1st October 1974, in Bydgoszcz, a branch of Lódz Music. On October 1, 1975, first classes began with 25 students of the Instrumental Faculty, led by Deputy Dean and manager of the academy, Miroslaw Pietkiewicz. Initially, the classes were conducted in the halls of the Pomeranian Philharmonic and the Music School, and lectures performed by professors coming from Lódz. Part of the staff comprised also musicians from the Pomeranian Symphony Orchestra and Capella Bydgostiensis, the Chamber music ensemble. In 1976, a Musical Education department was created and the academy moved into its main