Błażejczyk, Wojciech

Composer, guitarist, sound engineer. Born in 1981, he graduated from the composition class of Zygmunt Krauze and the sound engineering class of Andrzej Lupa at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw as well as in journalism and political science from the University of Warsaw. Since 2010 he has taught at the Sound Engineering Faculty and the Computer Music Studio of the F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2016 he obtained a PhD in sound engineering.

His works have been performed at festivals including Warsaw Autumn, New Music Concerts (Toronto), Polish Modern: New Directions in Polish Music since 1945 (New York), Musica Moderna, Audio Art, Musica Electronica Nova, Musica Polonica Nova, Visegard Portraits (Budapest), Poznań Music Spring, Experimentelle Musik (Munich), Warsaw Music Encounters, and Audio Art, by ensembles and orchestras such as the Polish Radio Orchestra, Gorzów and Kalisz philharmonics, New Music Concerts Ensemble, Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Kwadrofonik, and Hashtag Ensemble. In 2014-15 he was a composer-in-residence to the West Pomeranian University of Technology Academic Choir in Szczecin (as part of the Institute of Music and Dance residency programme). He writes both acoustic and electroacoustic music, as well as works for the theatre and film. He has been a prizewinner in several competitions including the 1st Krzysztof Penderecki International Composition Competition (3rd prize, 2012), Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers (1st prize for Exhorta for tape, 2011 and 2nd prize for Apnea for percussions and pianos, 2010). His Warsaw Music reached the finals of the European Broadcasting Union's Palma Ars Acustica 2016. He has received scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (twice) and the Keimyung Research Foundation. In 2013 he took part in IRCAM Forum Workshops in Paris.

In 2013 For Tune Records released the CD Loopovisations dedicated to his compositions for solo electric guitar, with ensembles and electronics, on which he also appears as a performer. In his music, Błażejczyk also applies objectophones: musical instruments constructed out of everyday objects, whose sound is transformed live.

He performs contemporary music on the electric guitar, solo and with the Hashtag Ensemble. He also plays improvised music and music for silent films with Niemy Movie ensemble. He has collaborated with the Warsaw Autumn since 2008 as a sound engineer. He creates sound designs for films and audiobooks.

Selected works: Schizophrenia for chamber orchestra and tape (2002), MAD-Mutual_Assured_Destruction for chamber orchestra (2007), Seica for ten instruments (2008), Hysteresis Loop for saxophone and tape (2007), Postlude for seven brass and piano (2007), Rozedrganie for three violins and piano (2008), Hora iudicii for choir and chamber orchestra (2009), Apnea for two percussions and two pianos (2010), Protocol for actor, ensemble and electronics (2010), Music 4 Four for electric guitar, cello, bass clarinet and accordion (2010-12), Exhorta for tape and reciter (2011), Penal Colony for actor and symphony orchestra (2011), Chicken Run for electric guitar (2011), Introjection for string orchestra (2012), LoPassHiCut for double bass and live electronics (2013), Guitar Sculptures for electric guitar and live electronics (2013), A Concise History of the Death of Jean Calas for baritone, choir and symphony orchestra (2014), Trash Music for voice, instrumental ensemble, voice and objectophones (2014), Particle Horizon for electric guitar, bass guitar, objectophones and live electronics (2014), Warsaw Music for instrumental ensemble, voice and live electronics (2015), Music of Strings for electric guitar, piano and string trio (2015), Concerto for electric guitar and string orchestra (2016), Angels of Peace for oboe, clarinet, horn and double bass (2017).