Biography
A composer, electronic music performer, concert organizer and teacher, Krzysztof Wołek is a passionate advocate of contemporary acoustic and electronic music and multimedia compositions. Krzysztof’s works span a broad spectrum of works from purely acoustic, improvisational and electronic to various forms of multidisciplinary collaborations. His interdisciplinary/collaboration interests have resulted in annual concerts organized under his supervision and in collaborative works with dancers and visual artists.
Krzysztof Wołek began to study music at the age of six at the Chopin Music School in Bytom, graduating with a degree in percussion in 1994. During the years 1994-1996 he studied composition in prof. Edward Bogusławsk’s class at the Katowice Music Academy and continued his studies in The Hague with Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding and Gilius van Bergeijk. Moving on to Chicago to study with Marta Ptaszyńska, Krzysztof Wołek graduated with a Ph.D. in composition and computer music from the University of Chicago in 2007. He taught composition, electronic music and theory at the college level at the Academy of Music in his native Katowice, Poland, as well as at Columbia College Chicago and the University of Chicago. In August 2008, he began his current work as an Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Director of Digital Composition Studies at the University of Louisville. Krzysztof serves on the jury of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, is a Programming Committee Member of the Warsaw Autumn Festival and serves as a Director of the University of Louisville New Music Festival.
His works have been performed at international festivals such as the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the University of Louisville New Music Festival, SEAMUS, SPARK, the International Computer Music Conference, the Audio Art Festival, the Annual International Contemporary Dance Conference, Musica Polonica Nova, the International Sound Engineering Conference and the ISCM World Music Days, among others. He has received commissions from the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Siemens Foundation, SCI/ASCAP as well as awards and grants including, among others, the Chicago Arts Grant from the University of Chicago Arts Planning Council (2006), the Prix for Mobile Variations at the Concours Internationaux de Musique et d’Art Sonore Electroacoustiques-Bourges (2007), and the Golden Euphony prize for the same work from the MISAME association and the Bourge Competition in 2010.
Selected Compositions
Three Short Pieces in Bartók Style for piano (1995)
Sonata for woodwind trio (1995)
Links for orchestra (1996)
Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (1997)
L’homme et la mer for mixed choir (1997)
Archealea for piano and tape (1998)
Duo 1998 for two clarinets (1998)
String Quartet (1998)
(A)Symmetrics for orchestra (1999)
For Madmen Only! for tenor saxophone and piano (2001)
The Body for a large ensemble (2003)
The Void for orchestra (2003)
Bend for flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, two violins, two violas and two cellos (2003)
Imaginary Soundspace for video and electronics (2003)
Pusty for solo violin (2004)
4 Drums for 4 Congas (or darabuca drums) (2004)
Changing Lanes for string quartet and electronics (2005)
Mobile Variations for six-channel tape (2005)
Eppur si muove for soprano, chamber ensemble, four-channel spatial electronics live and recorded video (2006)
Un claro del tiempo [Prześwit czasu] for flutes, soprano, piano and electronics (2008)
Arguro for flute and live electronics (2009)
Elements for chamber ensemble and live electronics (2010)
Yamantaka for two percussionists and tape (2011)
Bouncing [an audio-visual installation with Kinect controller] (2013)
Motions, Stases for piano and large ensemble (2012, rev. 2014)
Błoto for chamber ensemble and fixed media (2015)
Spin for large orchestra and live electronics (2017)
Page updated on