Winner of first prizes at the Conducting Competition in Besançon (1970), the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition (1971) and the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition (1971), Gabriel Chmura conducted leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre national de France, Orchestra Filarmonica Di Roma, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Chmura was music director of the opera house in Aachen (1974 to 1983), the Bochumer Symphoniker (1983 to 1987), the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa (1987 to 1990) and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (2001 to 2007). From 2012 to 2020 he was artistic director of Poznań Opera House.