Duchnowski, Cezary
Born in 1971 in Elbląg, composer and pianist. He studied composition with Leszek Wisłocki at the Karol Lipiński Music Academy in Wrocław. He was one of the initiators of the Computer Composition Studio at this Academy, where he currently teaches computer music and other subjects.
He has held scholarships from the Friends of Warsaw Autumn Foundation, the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Heinrich Strobel Foundation's SWR Experimentalstudio in Freiburg, and the Ernst von Siemens Foundation in Munich. He has won many awards including at the International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music in Rome (2003) and the Gaudeamus modern music performance competition in the Netherlands (2005). He writes chamber and symphonic works, lm and theatre music, multimedia, interactive, improvised, and paramusical projects. His music has been performed by ensembles such as Musikfabrik, London Sinfonietta, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester, Hilliard Ensemble, and Auditiv Vokal Dresden at festivals in Poland and other countries, including Warsaw Autumn, Ultraschall (Berlin), Sacrum Profanum (Cracow), Synthèse (Bourges), Other Spaces (Moscow), Sonic Exploration (London), Wratislavia Cantans and Musica Electronica Nova (Wrocław). Lately, he has focused on electroacoustic music. In the ElettroVoce duo with Agata Zubel he develops projects for voice and electronics. As a great promoter of improvised music, he eagerly collaborates with jazz musicians and other artists for whom live music-making is a life's passion. With Paweł Hendrich and Sławomir Kupczak, he founded Phonos ek Mechanes, an ensemble performing "human electronics," a special type of improvised electronic music in which computers are controlled by acoustic instruments. In 1997 together with Marcin Rupociński, he founded Morphai, a project for interdisciplinary artistic initiatives.
"Electroacoustic music is a unique field to explore the primeval aspects of music. Apart from composing out time and space with sounds, you can 'compose' the very instruments. is lets you touch the very essence of music, shaping its starting point and its conditio sine qua non, timbre, which in itself is individual. Timbre is the indivisible substance that determines musical existence, it is a closed cosmos, like Leibniz's monad." (Cezary Duchnowski)
Selected works: Żuławy Impressions for chamber orchestra (1993), Epic Poem of Hops for soprano, actors' choir and symphony orchestra (1996), Poems from the Rabble of Nobody's oughts for choir, three sopranos, piano and harpsichord (1996), Taps, concert performance for soprano, piano, dance theatre and actor (collective composition, 1997), Games, audiovisual show for soprano, saxophone, piano, marimbaphone and electronics with dancers and actor (with Marcin Rupociński, 1998), Mediants for string quartet, harpsichord and piano (1998), Morphai, multimedia spectacle for soprano, saxophone, piano, marimbaphone and electronics with dance, performance and video (collective composition, 1998), Hypér tes morphés for tape (1998), Vernissage for photos, piano and tape (collective composition, 1999), Ovinu Malkeinu for tape (2000), Ludus for symphony orchestra (2000), monada 1 for accordion and two violins (2001), Sequences, audiovisual show (2001), Progress for soprano and electronics (2001), The Beginning. Broadcast 1 for reciting voice and electronics (2001), Wyczochraczone for computer (2002), Dishevelled Grass for voice and computer (2002), Triads for string orchestra and electronics (2002), The Aim. Broadcast 2 for announcer and electronics (2002), monada 2 for trumpet, voice and computer (2003), Meloodia for Arvo Pärt for four male voices and tape (2003), monada 3 for voice, piano and computer (2003), monada 4 for Baron, Wojtasik and computer (2003), Reality on Braces Stretched from the Window for clarinet, trombone, piano, cello and electronics (2004; version for two pianos, string orchestra and electronics, 2008), noskyscrapers for string orchestra and computer (2004), 10 1, 8 2, 6 3, 4 4 for string quartet (2005), The Gate for symphony orchestra and computer (2005), Beard for cello and computer (2005), Martha's Garden, chamber opera for female voice, actor, electronic media and instruments to a libretto by Piotr Jasek (2006), Sweater. Broadcast 3 for announcer and electronics (2008), cello_Net for cello octet (2009), City Voices for symphony orchestra, choir and computer (2009), Cast of Dice for three computers (2009), Stazione Termini, music for a Wrocław Pantomime Theatre performance (2010), 1 5 1, 2 4 2, 3 3 3 for violin, cello and electronics (2011), Crossfade for accordion, cello and electronics (2011), i for instrumental groups and electronics (2012), Fere vetus canticum for voice and accordion (2012), The End of Poetry for voice, electric cello, orchestra and electronics (2012), acc++ca for accordion and computer (2012), Stone - River - Rhythm for four violas da gamba and electronics (2013), Music of Spatial Forms for voice, cello, strings and electronics (2013), Parallels for piano, MIDI keyboard, percussion and cello (2014), Drone Music for instruments and electronics (2014), Symphony of Sets for group of instruments and electronics (2015), Sequenza I. Study for a Second Cymbal Stroke for cymbal and computer (2016), Ball of Spring Plenitude for instruments and electronics (2017), cROSSFAdE 2 for accordion, viola and electronics (2017), lm and theatre music.