Wojciech Widłak Composer

About composer

Wojciech Widłak, native Cracovian, born 1971 in a family with multi-generational musical traditions. In the field of composition he was a student of Marek Stachowski (1990-96, Academy of Music in Kraków) and Hans Abrahamsen (1999, Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen). He enhanced his skills as a composer under the direction of a.o. Franco Donatoni, Per Nørgård, Goce Kolarovski, Robert Saxton. The graduate of the organ class of Jan Jargon (1990-95).

He made his debut as a composer in 1987, performing his own composition Wizje (Visions) for piano for young pupils. 10 years later a symphonic debut of Wojciech Widłak took place at Cracow Philharmonic (Concerto laudativo for organ, boys choir and orchestra).

Laureate of several composition competitions, incl. a prestigious recommendation of the 56 th International Rostrum of Composers UNESCO in Paris, 2006 (for “Earthsumption” for orchestra and organ), 1 st Young Adam Didur Young Composers’ Competition in Sanok (1992, the only laureate), International Composers’ Competition for an Organ Concerto in Cracow (announced by Cracow Philharmonic, 1996, distinction), 2nd Young Composers’ Competition Musica Sacra in Warsaw / Częstochowa (1996, 2nd Prize and distinction), Composers’ Competition Missa Boguciensis in Katowice (1998, distinction), Tadeusz Baird 40 th Young Composers’ Competition in Warsaw (1998, winner ex aequo), SZSU International Competition for composition for male choir a cappella, Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, 2003), VIème Concours Européen de Composition pour Chœurs et Maîtrises de Cathédrales w Amiens (France, 2005). He got the Artistic Scholarship of the City of Cracow (1997), a scholarship of Accademia Musicale Chigiana (1997), Scholarship of Polish Ministry of Culture and Art and Danish Government (1998/99, composition studies with Hans Abrahamsen, Artistic Scholarship of Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and others.

Author of dozens of works performed till now in 16 European countries (Poland, Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland), Argentina, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, USA, Mexico, recorded on a dozen of CDs in Poland (DUX, Acte Préalable a.o.) and Italy (Taukay Edizioni Musicali), printed in Poland (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne PWM, DO-RE-MI Editions), France (Edition Reson Anches), Germany (Edition Ferrimontana), commissioned by institutions, artists and ensembles of international renown (a.o. The Warsaw Autumn Friends’ Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung München, Polish Institute of Music and Dance and Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, The National Museum in Cracow).

The music of W. Widłak was performed among others by:

orchestras: The Warsaw National Philharmonic, Cracow Philharmonic, Szczecin Philharmonic, Pardubice Philharmonic, Lvov Philharmonic, The Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra NOSPR in Katowice, Aukso Orchestra, New Music Orchestra OMN, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Polish Radio Orchestra POR, Symphonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Kraków, The Silesian Opera Orchestra in Bytom, Forum Sinfonia;

choirs: Schola Cantorum Gedanensis, Schola Cantorum Cracoviensis, Warsaw Chamber Choir, Poznań Chamber Choir, M. Glinka State Music College Choir in Minsk / Belarus, Polish Radio Choir, Cracow Philharmonic Boys Choir, Collegium Cantorum – Częstochowa Philharmonic Choir;

ensembles: Trio Animae, Storstrøms Kammerensemble, KammerensembleN, Ensemble SoNoR, ALEA Contemporary Music Ensemble Skopje, Ensemble Klassik-Awangard, Les Hautbois du Metz, Sepia Ensemble, Silesian String Quartet, CRACOVIA String Quartet, AMAR CORDE String Quartet, Cracow Duo, LLLeggiero Woodwind Trio;

soloists: Urszula Kryger, Elżbieta Towarnicka, Agata Zubel, Aleksandra Zamojska, Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha, Kaja Danczowska, Łukasz Długosz, Arkadiusz Bialic, Andrzej Białko, Marco Ciccone, Goska Isphording, Agata Kielar-Długosz, Krzysztof Lasoń, Jarosław Malanowicz, Hayk Melikyan, Andrzej Pikul, Michal Pal’ko, Józef Serafin;

conductors: Svend Aaquist, Roland Bader, Szymon Bywalec, Wojciech Czepiel, Rafał Delekta, Marko Ivanović, Sasha Mäkilä, Marek Moś, Paweł Przytocki, Piotr Sułkowski, Jean Thorel, Maciej Tworek, Krzysztof Urbański, Victoria Zhad‘ko, Jan Łukaszewski, Włodzimierz Siedlik.

In his early works from the 90‘s Wojciech Widłak was using traditional, distinct harmony, expressive rhythm and obsessive repeatability. Since 2000 he has turned into more radical timbre, multilayered structure, game of musical idioms. Lately, he has been focusing on expression's extremes, microtonality, perceptual time and his original conception of „swivel harmony“. When reflecting on composition, he compares the process with the work of a sculptor. He finds inspiration in the visual sphere, in words and in the “images of the imagination”. He perceives the essence of his work as creating and expressing an individual world of sounds and experiences, discovering beauty and sharing it with a listener.

In addition to composing orchestral, chamber, solo and choral music, an area of Wojciech Widłak's activity is church music. Since 1987 for almost 20 years he was active as church organ player in several catholic churches of Cracovian Archdiocese. 1998-2003 he was the first director of Diocesan School of Church Music in Bielsko-Biała. He is author of religious works as well as utilitarian music for liturgical purposes (chants, arrangements, harmonizations). In 2000s for a few years he was member of Polish Church Music Association, active also in the Commission for Church Music of Cracovian Archdiocese.

At the age of 41 Wojciech Widłak received the title of Professor of Art from the President of Poland, having obtained before the first degree qualifications (PhD, 1999) and habilitation (Ass. Prof. degree, 2004). At the Academy of Music in Cracow he has got a class of composition in which young composers from Poland and many other countries have studied (China, Brasil, Great Britain, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Slovakia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, USA). Among his students and graduates are: Katarzyna Szwed, Marcin Pączkowski, R. Yigit Özatalay, Michal Pal’ko, Nadim Husni, Jarosław Płonka, Peter Javorka, Paweł Malinowski, Paweł Siek et al. He has been a supervisor of several doctorates in music arts (harpsichordist Goska Isphording, composers: Henryk J. Botor, Jarosław Płonka, Michał Gronowicz, Issidoros Papadakis, Josuè W. Amador, Wassim Ibrahim). He has held guest- lectures and composition masterclasses in USA, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary. Employed since 1995 at the Academy of Music in Cracow, first at Chair of Organ, and since 1996 – at Chair of Composition (since 2005 being its director). 2012-2020 Dean of the Faculty of Music Composition, Interpretation and Education. During his tenure this Faculty twice obtained the prestigious, distinctive scientific category A+ (2013 as the only music faculty in Poland, 2017).

Wojciech Widłak is a member of the Polish Composers’ Union. He was a member of jury panels in several composition competitions in Poland and Italy. The main publisher of Widłak’s music is PWM Edition (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne).