Alina Kowalska-Pińczak, born on June 10, 1948, in Bydgoszcz, Poland, is a distinguished conductor, music theorist, and pedagogue. She was born into a musical family; her father, Mieczysław Kowalski, was an organist and composer. Alina pursued her education at the Państwowe Liceum Muzyczne in Bydgoszcz, graduating in 1967. She furthered her studies at the State Higher School of Music in Gdańsk, where she completed the Faculty of Composition and Music Theory in 1972, and later at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, earning a diploma with distinction in 1990.

Kowalska-Pińczak has been a faculty member at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk since 1972. She served as the Dean of the Faculty of Composition and Music Theory from 1999 to 2005 and has been the head of the Department of Symphony and Opera Conducting since 2015. She was awarded the title of Professor of Musical Arts on December 12, 2001, and holds a doctorate in the humanities, specializing in surdologopedics, from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, obtained in 1980.

In 1981, she co-founded the Early Music Ensemble Cappella Gedanensis and has been its artistic director since 1992, when it gained the status of a cultural institution of the City of Gdańsk. Under her leadership, the ensemble has focused on the development and performance of Gdańsk's musical heritage, particularly from the Baroque period.

Kowalska-Pińczak has received numerous honors, including the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2005, the Silver Cross of Merit in 2001, the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis in 2007, and the Medal of the National Education Commission in 2002. Her contributions to culture have also been recognized with several awards, such as the City of Gdańsk Award in the Field of Culture in 1993 and the Pomeranian Artistic Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998.