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Zubel, Agata

was born in Wrocław. She graduated with a distinction (Music Primus Inter Pares medal) from the Karol Lipiński Music Academy in Wrocław after composition studies with Jan Wichrowski and vocal studies with Danuta Paziuk-Zipser. In 2004 she obtained a doctorate and in 2014 postdoctorate in musical arts. She also studied in the Netherlands and attended numerous masterclasses. She is currently a lecturer at the Wrocław Academy of Music. She has received scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture, Rockefeller Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Foundation, City of Wrocław, and the International Foundation for Education, as well as the Merit for Polish Culture medal from the Polish Ministry of Culture. As a vocalist she specialises in modern music, and has participated in many prestigious musical events. Together with composer and pianist Cezary Duchnowski she established the ElettroVoce Duo in 2001. She has premiered and recorded numerous works by contemporary composers. In the past few years she has performed Witold Lutosławski’s Chantefleurs et Chantefables (Musica Polonica Nova), Bernhard Lang’s DW9 (Warsaw Autumn), Salvatore Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici (Nostalgia Festival), Zygmunt Krauze’s The Star (electroacoustic adaptation by Cezary Duchnowski at the Polski Theatre in Wrocław), the title role in Dobromiła Jaskot’s Phaedra, and Madeline in Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher (The Grand Theatre – Polish National Opera). She received the annual Orpheus Award of Polish music critics for the title role in Duchnowski’s opera Martha’s Garden. She also participated in an experimental improvisation project during the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt. As a soloist, she has appeared in many European countries as well as South Korea, Canada, and the United States. She has cooperated with leading modern music ensembles including Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik, London Sinfonietta, Eighth Blackbird Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, and many others. Her CDs include Not I on Kairos, Fryderyk Award-winning Cascando on CD Accord, El-Derwid. Blots on the Sun (Fryderyk nomination), and the virtuoso Poems, featuring songs by Copland, Berg and Szymański. She has won several competitions both as a singer and composer, including the Passport Award of the Polityka weekly (2005). Her Symphony no. 2, commissioned by Deutsche Welle, was premiered during the 2005 Beethoven Festival in Bonn. Subsequent commissions have included String Quartet no. 1 (Ultraschall Festival, 2007), of Songs (Wratislavia Cantans, 2007), Cascando (Central European Music Festival in Seattle, 2007), Symphony no. 3 (with the assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation 2008), Aphorisms on Miłosz (Sacrum Profanum Festival in Cracow, 2011), Shades of Ice (London Sinfonietta 2011), Street of a Human City (German Radio for 2011 Warsaw Autumn), Labyrinth (Polish Institute in Tel Aviv, 2012), What is the Word (Klangforum Wien, 2012), Percussion Store (Cracow Philharmonic, 2012).
In 2010 her opera–ballet Between was premiered in the Grand Theatre –National Opera in Warsaw and in 2011 she was commissioned to write another opera for this theatre, Oresteia. In 2011 she was composer-in-residence at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco and in 2010–12, at the Cracow Philharmonic. One of the highlights of the 2012 Sacrum Profanum Festival was a concert of the Klangforum Wien ensemble, dedicated entirely to her compositions. In 2013 her piece Not I recorded with Klangforum Wien, representing the Polish Radio, was selected at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers and in 2014 the same work received the Polonica Nova Prize.

Major works: Lumière for percussion (1997), Nocturne for violin (1997), Birthday for mixed a cappella choir, to words by Wisława Szymborska (1998), Three Miniatures for piano (1998), A Song about the End of the World for voice, speaker and instrumental ensemble, to words by Czesław Miłosz (1998), Reflections for mixed choir, to words by Jan Twardowski (1999), Ragnatela for bassoon and string orchestra (1999), Ballad for voice, percussion and tape (1999), Ludia and Fu for guitar (1999), Photographs from an Album for marimba and string quartet (2000), Parlando for amplified voice (2000), Trivellazione a percussione for percussion (2000), Re-Cycle for five percussionists (2001), Lentille for voice, accordion and string orchestra (2001), Symphony no. 1 (2002), Nelumbo for four marimbas (2003), Unisono I for voice, percussion and computer (2003), Unisono II for voice, accordion and computer (2003), Concerto grosso for recorders, baroque violin, harpsichord and two choirs (2004), Tales for voice and prepared piano (2004), Symphony no. 2 for 77 musicians (2005), String Quartet no. 1 for four cellos and computer (2006), Permissible Load for percussion and computer (2006), Cascando for voice, flute, clarinet, violin and cello (2007), of Songs for voice, cello, choir and orchestra (2007), Between, opera/ballet for voice, electronics and dancers (2008), Symphony no. 3 for trumpet and symphony orchestra (2008–9), Not I for voice, chamber ensemble and electronics, to words by Samuel Beckett (2010), Oresteia, drama/ opera for soloists, actors, choir, percussion and electronics (2011), Suite for Percussion Trio (2011), Aphorisms on Miłosz for soprano and ensemble, to words by Czesław Miłosz (2011), The Streets of a Human City for ensemble (2011), Shades of Ice for clarinet, cello and electronics (2011), Labyrinth for voice and chamber ensemble, to words by Wisława Szymborska (2011), What is the Word for voice and chamber ensemble, to words by Samuel Beckett (2012), Wounded Angel for double-bell trumpet (2009–12), Percussion Store for percussion ensemble and orchestra (2012), Lullaby for mixed choir, to words by Shakespeare (2013), In Between the Ebb of Thoughts and the Flow of Sleep for voice, piano and string orchestra, to words by Tadeusz Dąbrowski (2013), IN for large symphony orchestra (2013), Cadenza for solo violin (2013), Where To for ensemble (2014).

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