Born in 1953 in Poznań, she graduated from the State High School of Music in her home city, where she studied composition with Andrzej Koszewski. She has received commissions from the Polish Radio, Solidarity Trade Union, Eighth Day Theatre, Holland Dance Festival, Euro-Musik-Theater in Stuttgart, de ereprijs, Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio, Ministry of Culture of Baden–Württemberg, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. She has worked at the electronic music studios of the State High School of Music in Cracow, Polish Radio in Warsaw, IPEM/BRT in Ghent, EMS in Stockholm, Experimentalstudio des SWR in Freiburg im Breisgau, and ZKM in Karlsruhe. She has received 17 awards at composers’ competitions. Her works have been performed at festivals in many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In 2007 she received the Award of the Polish Composers’ Union for her outstanding and varied achievements in the field of composition.

Currently Lidia Zielińska holds the posts of professor of composition and director of the Studio of Electroacoustic Music at Poznań’s Academy of Music; for many years (1989–92 and 2001–10) she also taught classes in sonology at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. She has published and lectured extensively on Polish contemporary music, electroacoustic music, the history of experimental music, sound ecology, and traditional Japanese music at the invitation of universities in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. She has conducted summer courses, workshops, and seminars in Poland and abroad. She has served as a juror, curator, expert, and consultant to many musical, intermedia, and educational projects in many countries in Europe, as well as to various institutions in the European Union.

For many years, Lidia Zielińska has held a number of official functions. Until 2013 she was the Vice-President of the Polish Composers’ Union’s Managing Board and Vice-President of the Polish Association for Electroacoustic Music. She served on the Repertoire Committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1989–92 and 1996–2005), as artistic director of the Musical Spring Contemporary Music Festival in Poznań (1989–92) as well as the Child and Sound International Festival in Poznań. She was also a member of the Programme Committee of the ISCM World Music Days in Warsaw and the Polish–German Radio Copernicus. After the political breakthrough of 1989, she was the initiator and cofounder of the BREVIS Music Publishers (1990), Child and Sound Foundation (1991), Monochord music quarterly (1993), Friends of the Warsaw Autumn Foundation (1998), Zachęta Greater Poland Region Fine Arts Society (2004), Polish Association for Electroacoustic Music (PseME, 2005), and other associations.

Major works (since 1995): Venture Unknown, ballet (1995), Section Togo for male choir and prepared piano (1995), Schon wieder diese weissen Mäuse for tape (1996), La vetrata for youth string orchestra (1996, rev. version of Six Compositions for String Quartet, 1979), Expandata for snare drum and tape (1997), Motetus universalis, installation (1997), Ballad about a Ballata for tape (1997), Percussionata for 40–60 percussionists (1998), You Know This, So Listen..., radio feature after Julian Tuwim (1998), Zoom for violin and orchestra (2000), Just Too Many Words for tape (2001), Grain to Grain for 13 instruments (2002), A Sketch Drawn from Nature, multimedia show (2002), From a Sketchbook II, multimedia show (2003), dumchrzquii for tape (2004), Rhapsody for violin and electronic sounds (2004), Nobody is Perfect for electronic sounds and 17 instruments (2004), Die Fälle des Herrn von K., electronic music for ballet (2005), Lunches in Rejowiec 1965–1565, text–sound composition (2006), Everything Has Already Happened, audiovisual installation (2006), From the Garden of Sciences for choir and CD to words from the Book of Ecclesiastes (2006), Open Your Ears! Open Your Eyes!, audiovisual miniature for children (2006), Conrad’s Seven Islands for electronic timbres and 10 amplified instruments (2007), The Eighth Island for CD (2008), Beethoven’s Cook for CD (2009), To Have a Title for the Piece... for clarinet, electric guitar and piano (2009), Rust for six instruments and CD (2010), Canción triste for violin and CD (2010), In the Rear for computer (2010), Backstage Pass for computer (ambisonics) or multi-channel projection (2010), Melodrama for orchestra (2011), X3 for 14 instruments (2011), Years for orchestra (2011), Musical Landscapes – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, multimedia concert for children (2011), Aphasia for tenor saxophone and CD (2012), Ukiyo for 19 instruments (2012), Insectarium for CD, music for a visual exhibition (2012), 53 Breaths for glissando flute, 8-channel tape and live electronics (2013), X-3m for ensemble (2013), Looks Chinese, Sounds Polish, installation (2013), Lutosławski DIY, installation (2013), Lutosławski DIY Flash Mob (2013), Slices of Music, interactive installation for children (2013), Missed Link, sound show for traditional female folk singers, instrumental ensemble, mobile instruments, 8-channel tape and live electronics (2013–14), Polish Sonorities–installation (2014), Threesome for string quartet, video, instrumental ensemble and live electronics (2014–15), Sinfonia concertante for small sound devices, small percussion and large orchestra (2014–15).