Fitelberg was born into a Jewish family (father Hozjasz Fitelberg, mother Matylda Pintzof, sister Leja Wacholder, 1881–1941, died in the Holocaust), in Daugavpils, Russian Empire (now Latvia). Between 1906–07, he performed several times at the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1908 he conducted in the Warsaw Opera, and between 1912–13 in the Vienna State Opera. 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. From 1921 to 1934 he was the chief conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, where he excessively promoted new music. In 1935 he organized the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Between 1940–41, he conducted at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Throughout his career, he performed in various locations around the world including Paris, Monte Carlo, Brussels, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Moscow, Bristol, London, The Hague, Buenos Aires, New York, Montreal and Toronto. He died in Katowice, Poland in June 1953.
His son was the Polish-American composer Jerzy Fitelberg, who predeceased him. His second wife, Halina Schmolz, was a ballet dancer who died in 1939, from wounds suffered during the bombing of the Poniatowski Bridge. Their home, Willa Fitelberga, has recently been restored.
The Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, one of the most important music competitions in Poland, takes place in the Silesian Philharmonic since 1979.
