Authors
Marta Ptaszyńska
Composer and educator, one of the most recognisable figures in Polish contemporary music, Ptaszyńska graduated in composition and music theory from Warsaw’s State Higher School of Music (now the Chopin University of Music) and in percussion from the State Higher School of Music in Poznań (now the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music). She also worked with Nadia Boulanger, Pierre Schaeffer, and Olivier Messiaen. She continued her composition studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music (USA), where she then began her teaching career, continued at many US universities (including the posts of composition professor at Bloomington’s Indiana University School of Music in 1997 and full professor at the University of Chicago in 1998).
Ptaszyńska’s works have been presented at such prestigious events as the ISCM World Music Days, contemporary music festivals at Huddersfield, Schleswig-Holstein, and Salzburg, the Warsaw Autumn, Wratislavia Cantans, and the International Percussion Symposia in the United States. Her music has been commissioned by such excellent orchestras and institutions as the Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Südwestrundfunk, and the BBC.
Varied in form, sound, and technique, Ptaszyńska’s output is characterised by rich textures and a wide colouristic and dynamic palette. She combines an avant-garde musical language with lyricism and traditional elements with modernity.
The artist’s numerous accolades include awards at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (1st prize – recommended work: La novella d’inverno for strings), ASCAP Composers Contest in New York, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, as well as the Officer’s and Commander’s Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and the ‘Gloria Artis’ Gold Medal for Merit to Culture (2023).
Ptaszyńska’s works have been presented at such prestigious events as the ISCM World Music Days, contemporary music festivals at Huddersfield, Schleswig-Holstein, and Salzburg, the Warsaw Autumn, Wratislavia Cantans, and the International Percussion Symposia in the United States. Her music has been commissioned by such excellent orchestras and institutions as the Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Südwestrundfunk, and the BBC.
Varied in form, sound, and technique, Ptaszyńska’s output is characterised by rich textures and a wide colouristic and dynamic palette. She combines an avant-garde musical language with lyricism and traditional elements with modernity.
The artist’s numerous accolades include awards at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (1st prize – recommended work: La novella d’inverno for strings), ASCAP Composers Contest in New York, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, as well as the Officer’s and Commander’s Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and the ‘Gloria Artis’ Gold Medal for Merit to Culture (2023).
