Kornowicz Jerzy
Composer, piano improviser, music animator, born in 1959 in Lublin. He studied composition with Tadeusz Baird and Marian Borkowski at the Music Academy in Warsaw, and with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
He has written commissioned works for festivals, institutions and performers in Poland and abroad, such as the BBC, Polish Radio, Experimental Studio of Polish Radio, BBC Singers, Warsaw Autumn Festival, de ereprijs Orchestra, Joachim Quartet, Prague Philharmonic and the City of Wrocław.
Recordings of his works have been released on labels such as BBC Music, Signum Classic, Polskie Nagrania, Acte Préalable, the Centre for International Creative Initiatives “Rozdroża”, and Polish Music Information Centre.
Performers of his works include Elżbieta Chojnacka, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Stephen Cleobury, Arturo Tamayo, Antoni Ros-Marbà, Aleksander Lasoń, Marek Moś, Szymon Bywalec, Krzysztof Bąkowski, Aleksandra Krzanowska, Terje Thiwang, and Maciej Grzybowski, as well as numerous orchestras and ensembles: Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice, Sinfonia Varsovia, Leopoldinum, Polish Chamber Orchestra, AUKSO, Schola Cantorum Gedanensis choir as well as orchestras and ensembles from other countries.
In 2000 his Interwoven Figures received a recommendation at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, while in 2008 his composition Pile-Ups was shortlisted for the first edition of Opus Music Prize of the polish public media. Jerzy Kornowicz also composes works for children, music for the theatre and film, as well as songs. In 2001 he initiated the formation of Mud Cavaliers, an intuitive music group which brings together improvising composers and authors of alternative and jazz music. He has performed with this group at many festivals. In 2011 Mud Cavaliers performed in many capital cities of Europe with the programme Metropolis and Myth within the framework of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Jerzy Kornowicz also makes appearances as a solo improviser.
He co-organised the second and third Encounters of Young Composers “Droga”, co-initiated the Akordy in Lublin, and the Generacje series of concerts for Polish Radio. He was the artistic curator of the Audio Art and Sound Spaces festival at the Centre for Contemporary Art at the Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, and author of the project The Academy of Sound– a series of educational concerts featuring new music, presented at Warsaw schools. He is the artistic commissioner of the “Kody” Festival of Music Tradition and Avant-garde in Lublin, and the author of the workshops All-Poland Buy-up of New and Used Sounds.
Since 1994 he has led the authorial programme of music education in the schools of the Culture and Education Association in Warsaw. Since 2003 he has served as President of the Polish Composers’ Union.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s ( s i n c e 1 9 9 5 ): Puzzler for chamber orchestra (1995), Things Constantly Spinning for violin (1996),Rollingsong for saxophone quartet (1997), Metanoja for harpsichord and tape (1998), Interwoven Figures for chamber orchestra (1998–99), Four Poems to Texts by Czesław Miłosz for voice and piano (2000), Shapes of Elements for harpsichord and sounds of nature (2000), Awaiting for mixed choir (2000), Accumulations for piano quintet (2001), Renesis for sounds of nature (2001), Spells for mixed choir (2001), Shining for violin and piano (2001), Purple Ribbon (In the claws of the Waltz) for piano (2002), Four streams for strings (2003), Dawns I – “Prague” for symphony orchestra (2004), Dawns II – Ereprijs for chamber orchestra (2004–05), Dawns III – Weltblech for ensemble of brass wind instruments and percussion (2005), Dawns IV – Melos-Ethos for 15 performers (2006), Scenes from Infinity for instrumental ensemble, vocal ensemble and live electronics (2006), Pile-Upsfor orchestra (2007), Two Songs to Texts of Chopin’s Songs for soprano and piano (2010), Scenes from Bulgakov for chamber orchestra and improvising computer (2010), Scenes from Bulgakov – Minskfor chamber orchestra and tape (2011), Bells of Nielisz for two pianos (2011), Bells of Saint- Acheul for two pianos and sampler (2012), The Hour of Metamorphoses – Echo, King Midas and the Swans– a musical expedition based on themes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses edited by Anna Kamieńska (2012), projects created together with Mud Cavaliers.
