COMPOSER CONDUCTOR PROFESSOR

PAWEŁ ŁUKASZEWSKI One of the leading representatives of Polish sacred and choral music, he is regarded as the successor of such composers as Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt and John Tavener.

Born in Częstochowa in 1968, he is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he studied the cello (with Andrzej Wróbel, diploma in 1992) and composition (with Marian Borkowski, an honours diploma in 1995). He has been on the faculty of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music since 1996, holding a Ph.D. in composition and the title of Professor. In 2016 he was elected Vice-Rector. He worked as a visiting professor in Chile and Argentina (2003, 2006). Promoter of the honorary doctorate of the Chopin University of Music for Maestro Arvo Pärt.

His distinctions include First Prize at the Warsaw Music Academy Competition (1994), and Second Prizes at the 2nd Young Composers’ Forum in Kraków (1994), the 5th Adam Didur Competition in Sanok (1996), the 27th International ‘Florilege Vocal de Tours’ Competition in France (1998).
He has received numerous awards for his compositions and recordings, (the Orphée d’Or de l’Académie du Disque lyrique, Orphée d’Or – Prix Hector Berlioz, ten ‘Fryderyk’ Awards of the Polish recording industry). His honours include the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1998), the awards of the Mayor of Częstochowa (1995) and the Rector of the Music Academy in Warsaw (2005), the Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski Award (2006), the Bronze Gloria Artis Medal of Cultural Merit (2011), the award from the Primate of Poland (2011), the Jerzy Kurczewski Prize (2015), the Blessed Michał Sopoćko Memorial Award (2017) and the Feniks Award of Polish Catholic Publishers (2017, 2018).

His works have been performed at over 100 festivals in Poland and abroad (Britain, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Moldova, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, the Vatican and the United States). His discography includes over 150 CDs (Hyperion, Acte Préalable, Polskie Nagrania Edition, DUX, Musica Sacra Edition, Signum Records). Over sixty of his pieces have been published in Britain (ChesterNovello), Poland (PWM Edition), Germany (Edition Ferrimontana, Choris Mundi), Italy (Edizioni Carrara) and the United States (Walton, Lorenz Corporation).

He has served as the Director of the International Festival ‘Laboratory of Contemporary Music’ (since 1995) and as President of the Musica Sacra Association (since 2000). He is a member of the ZAiKS Association of Authors and Composers, the Presidium of the Council of the Phonographic Academy and of the artistic council of the Gaude Mater International Festival of Sacred Music in Częstochowa. He has sat on the juries of the composers’ competitions in Arezzo, Moscow, and Bucharest. He is Artistic Director and Conductor of the ‘Musica Sacra’ Choir of the Warsaw-Praga Cathedral and of the Musica Sacra Edition.

In recent years Paweł Łukaszewski’s music has gained a high recognition in Britain. His works have been performed (and some premiered) by such renowned choral ensembles as The Holst Singers, BBC Singers, Trinity College Choir, Tenebrae, Britten Sinfonia and Polyphony under the direction of prominent conductors Stephen Layton and Nigel Short. Two CDs devoted exclusively to his music have been released by Hyperion.

  • NFM (2022)
  • Chór Polskiego Radia (2022)
  • NOSPR (2021)
  • Silesian Philharmonic (2021)
  • Warsaw Philharmonic (2020)
  • Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic (2020)
  • Yale University, USA (2018) 
  • Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (2018) 
  • Legnickie Centrum Kultury (2018) 
  • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Białystok (2015) 
  • Cracow Philharmonic (2015)
  • Presteigne Festival, Great Britain  (2013) 
  • YL Male Voice Choir, Finland (2013) 
  • Ealing Abbey Choir,Great Britain  (2013) 
  • City of Leipzig, Germany (2012) 
  • Cantatrix Choir, The Netherlands (2012)
  •  Erzbistum Koln, Germany (2012) 
  • Polyphony, Great Britain (2012)
  • Wroclaw Philharmonic (2011) 
  • The King’s Singers, Great Britain (2010) 
  • Adam Mickiewicz Institute (2010) 
  • Kultur-Insel Bremgarten, Switzerland (2009)
  • CoMA, London, Great Britain (2008)  
  • Britten Sinfonia, Cambridge, Great Britain (2007)  
  • Polish Composers Union (2006)
  • Kobe Chuo Chorus, Japan (2005) 
  • Akademie Klausenhof, Germany (2004)
  • Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Chile (2003)
  • Musica Viva Association, Montreal, Canada (2003) 
  • Polish Radio (1997) 
  • Theatre Des Cinq Diamants, Paris, France (1992)
  • Tokyo, Japan (2022) – Japan International Choral Composition Competition
  • Perugia – Assisi (2021) – Francesco Siciliani Prize
  • Venice, Italy (2019) – Claudio Monteverdi International Choral Competition
  • Bosco, Italy (2019) – Concorso di Composizione “Caecilia Virgo”
  • Gdańsk, Poland (2019) – VIII Gdański Międzynarodowy Festiwal Chóralny
  • Poznań, Poland (2018) – Grand Prix Chóralistyki Polskiej
  • Vilnius, Lithuania (2017) – Lithuanian National Choir Competition
  • Poland (2017) – Legnica Cantat
  • Poland (2017) – Kazimierz Serocki Composer’s Competition
  • Malta (2015) – Malta International Choir Festival
  • Malta (2015) – Girolamo Abos International Composition Competition
  • Rimini, Italy (2014) – Rimini International Choral Competition
  • Croatia (2014) – “Cro Patria” International Choral Composition Competition
  • Malta (2012) – APS Bank Music Competition
  • Koln, Germany (2012) – “Musica Sacra” International Composer’s Competition
  • Rouen, France (2011) – “Musica Sacra” International Composer’s Competition
  • Arezzo, Italy (2010) – Guido d’ Arezzo Composition Contest
  • Arezzo, Italy (2009) – Guido d’ Arezzo Composition Contest
  • Moscow, Russia (2009) – “De Boni Arte”Composition Competition
  • Bucharest, Romania (2008) – Orange Competition

SELECTED LIST OF ALUMNI AND STUDENTS OF PROFESSOR DR HAB. PAWEŁ ŁUKASZEWSKI’S COMPOSITION CLASS 

I. Doctor’s Diploma in Composition (Doctor of Musical Arts – D.M.A.):
dr Jarosław Gołembiowski (USA)
dr Anna Małek (Spain)
dr Dominik Lasota
dr Emilian Madey

II. Master’s Degree Studies in Composition (Master of Arts or Graduate Certificate) – Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland:
dr Paweł Kwapiński
dr Jakub Szafrański

mgr Łukasz Farcinkiewicz
mgr Artur Słotwiński
mgr Aleksandra Chmielewska
mgr Jakub Neske
mgr Jakub Krukowski
mgr Michał Malec
mgr lic. Jan Krutul
mgr Jakub Kaczmarek
mgr SuHyon Jang (Korea)
mgr Kunhyok Sin (Korea)
mgr Marcin Marchewka
mgr Aleksander Jan Szopa
mgr Andreu Diport i Feliu
lic. Jan Wachowski

III. Postgraduate and Doctorate Degree in Advanced Studies in Composition (Foreign Students):
dr Douglas Pew (USA) – Fulbright Scholarship
mgr Julia Seeholzer (USA) – Fulbright Scholarship
Denys Bocharov (Ukraine) – Gaude Polonia Scholarship
Kari Sundet (Norway)
Violeta Romero Morales (Spain) – Erasmus
Adrian Mocanu (Ukraine) – Gaude Polonia Scholarship

IV. Postgraduate Degree in Advanced Studies in Composition:
dr Sebastian Szymański
mgr Marek Raczyński

V. Students
lic. Franciszek Lewocki
lic. Paweł Konkol
Maciej Grinholc
Kacper Jastrzębski
Grzegorz Wijas

REVIEWS

'We live in a renaissance of sacred choral music, epitomized by the highly expressive, intensely devotional compositions of Pärt, Taverner, Górecki, MacMillan, Lauridsen, and others. It hardly seems reckless to predict that this will one day be regarded as a golden age. And on the strength of this program, the first major release devoted to this work, it is clear that Polish composer Paweł Łukaszewski (b 1968) belongs in this company of titans.'

'One of the most talented composers of the young generation’, ‘a distinct, strongly-outlined indivi¬duality’, ‘a composer of rare talent’ – these are just some examples of the words of praise which Paweł Łukaszewski has earned from critics. They also stress that the composer’s media success is a reflection of the high artistic merit of his music.'

‘...Łukaszewski [...] is a distinct and strongly outlined individuality. He writes expressive music, often of a motoric character, based on heterophonically accumulated, obsessively repeated motifs. He has an excellent sense of musical form…’

'Łukaszewski’s pieces stand out amongst those of other composers of the young generation not only for their stylistic originality but also for their excellent feel for the choral genre, a perfect command of texture and, last but not least, a respect for the text.'

None of the Polish composers of the young generation have managed to create in choral music such a perfect blend of modernity and the sacred. And even though ‘epoch-making’ composers can rarely be included in the realm of popularity, in Łukaszewski’s case his media success is a direct outcome of his musical perfection.’

'Despite his young age, Łukaszewski has an extensive output, particularly in choral music, in which he moves with great ease, creating music in line with the truth of his own style, of idiomatic simplicity and deep expression.'