prof. dr hab. Cezary Duchnowski

Composer and pianist. He studied composition in Leszek Wisłocki's class at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. He was one of the initiators of the Computer Composition Studio at this academy, where he currently teaches composition and computer music production, among other subjects. He has received scholarships from the Friends of the Warsaw Autumn Foundation, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Experimentalstudio der Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung des SWR in Freiburg im Breisgau and the Ernst von Siemens Foundation in Munich. He is a laureate of the UNESCO International Rostrum for Electroacoustic Music in Rome (2003) and the Gaudeamus Competition for Contemporary Music in the Netherlands (2005).

Cezary Duchnowski composes chamber and symphonic works. He is the creator of multimedia projects, interactive improvisational and music-related projects. His music has been performed by such ensembles as musikFabrik, Ensemble KNM Berlin, Court-circuit, London Sinfonietta, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester, Ensemble Recherche, The Hilliard Ensemble, AuditivVokal Dresden, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Aukso, and the New Music Orchestra at festivals in Poland and abroad, such as the Warsaw Autumn, Ultraschall (Berlin), Sacrum Profanum (Krakow), Synthèse (Bourges), Other Spaces (Moscow), Sonic Exploration (London), Wratislavia Cantans and Musica Electronica Nova (Wrocław). For many years, electroacoustic music has been the main focus of his work. Together with Agata Zubel, he forms the duo ElettroVoce, realising projects for voice and electronics.

He is a great advocate of improvised music. He eagerly collaborates with jazz musicians and other artists who are passionate about creating live music. Together with Paweł Hendrich and Sławomir Kupczak, he founded the group Phonos ek Mechanes. Within this group, he practises a special kind of improvised electronic music – human-electronics, where computers are controlled by acoustic instruments.

Since 2016, syncretic art has become increasingly important in Cezary Duchnowski's work, where music plays a key role in the co-creation of multimedia works. These interests have resulted in installation and sound projects as well as theatrical works, where music interacts closely and dynamically with other media.

"Electroacoustic music is a unique field for exploring the primary properties of music. In addition to composing a specific space-time with sound, it is possible to “compose” the instruments themselves. This allows one to commune with the essence of music. It allows one to shape its starting point and, at the same time, its condicio sine qua non – its sound, which is individual in nature. It is an inseparable substance that makes up the musical entity; it is, like Leibniz's monad, a closed cosmos." [C. Duchnowski]