BIO
ARTUR ZAGAJEWSKI - Composer, music theoretician, born in 1978 in Tomaszow Mazowiecki. He graduated with honours from his studies in music theory (2005) under the direction of Prof. Ryszard Daniel Golianek, Ph.D., and composition (2008) in the class of Prof. Bronislaw Kazimierz Przybylski at the Academy of Music in Lodz. He studied electronic music under Dr Krzysztof Knittel. In 2012, he defended his doctoral dissertation in composition, written under the supervision of Prof. Zygmunt Krauze. He has participated in competitions led by Prof. Marek Choloniewski (Academy of Music in Krakow) and Grazyna Pstrokonska-Nawratil (Academy of Music in Wroclaw).
He has been the laureate of the International Composition Competition “850 Jahre Cottbus – Musikalische Bilder einer Stadt” (honours, 2006), two editions of the BMW Crash! Competition, organised by the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art in Szczecin (honours in 2006 and main prize in 2007), the 48th and 50th editions of the Tadeusz Baird Young Composers’ Competition (second place in 2007 and 2009), the 5th composition competition organised as part of the “Srebrna Szybka” Festival of Contemporary Children’s and Youth Music (honours, 2009), the 3rd International Grazyna Bacewicz Composition Competition in Lodz (first place, 2009) and the “in-OUT- side” competition organised as part of the Sound Screen Festival in Bydgoszcz (main prize, 2009). In 2010, he was awarded the Lodz EUREKA statuette; in 2014, his Stabat Mater was nominated for the Wroclaw Polonica Nova Award.
In May 2017 his piece brut represented Poland (Polish Radio) and received the highest place on International Rostrum of Composers in Palermo. Also in 2017, Artur Zagajewski's successes were summarized with a prestigious nomination for the Corypheus of Polish Music Award in the Personality of the Year category.
His pieces have been presented at the following festivals: Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova (NFM, Wroclaw), the Festival of Premieres (NOSPR, Katowice), the 7th KODY Festival of Musical Tradition and Avant-Garde (Lublin), Loop Festival (Brussels), Internationaal Kamermuziekfestival (Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands), the 33rd International Ankara Music Festival (Turkey), Lodz Nacht in Stuttgart (Germany), Sound perspectives of the screen. Musical laboratory of arts: film – electro- acoustics – intermedia (Bydgoszcz), Fokus Lodz Biennale, The Colours of Poland and the contem.ucha cycle (Lodz Philharmonic), Music at the Old Monastery (Lodz), the International Festival of Acoustic, Electronic Music and Multimedia Projection in Brno (Czechia), Lodz Musical Easter, the Sound Screen Festival (Bydgoszcz), the Lodz „Ballet Meetings” International Ballet Festival (Academy of Music in Lodz), as well as at the CRICOTEKA Centre for Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor (Krakow). He has collaborated with cellist Dominik Polonski, choreographer Paulina Wycichowska, performance artist Zorka Wollny, video artist Michał Brzezinski as well as bands Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kwartludium, Arte dei Suonatori and the Polish Cello Quartet.
Zagajewski conducts research on rock music, presenting it in lectures (Popular Music Workshops at the Academy of Music in Lodz, the Polish National Conference for Art School Teachers organised by the CENSA Centre for the Education of Art School Teachers and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) as well as publications (Glissando,Operomania). As part of his popularising work, he conducts lectures and workshops for youth on music of the 20th and 21st century. He was a member of the jury at festivals, including the mYear Festival of Musical Imagination (Academy of Music in Wroclaw). He is an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Lodz and teaches theoretical subjects at the S. Moniuszko Music School in Lodz. He is also a member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the Programme Committee of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.
