Pstrokońska-Nawratil, Grażyna International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn

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Wrocław-based artist, she studied composition first with Stefan B. Poradowski, and later with Tadeusz Natanson at the State High School of Music in Wrocław (degree in 1971), where she later became a lecturer. In 1978 as a French government scholarship holder she attended lectures by Olivier Messiaen (Conservatoire de Paris) and Pierre Boulez (IRCAM, Paris), as well as Iannis Xenakis’s composer seminar in Aix-en-Provence. She was also a trainee at the Experimental Music Studio in Marseilles. 

She obtained the academic title of professor in 1993. Since 1977 she has taught a composition class in Wrocław, and in 1998–2009 she also educated young composers at the Music Academy in Poznań. Many of her former students have become important figures in the Polish contemporary music scene. In 1991–2017 she was head of the Chair of Composition and Music Theory (now the Chair of Composition) at Wrocław’s Music Academy. She served on the Programme Board of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (for four terms). In 1996–2008 she held the functions of, successively, programme consultant, manager, and artistic director of the Musica Polonica Nova Festival of Polish Contemporary Music. She has won prizes in competitions for composers, such as the National Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition (1971), GEDOK in Mannheim (1975), and the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (1987). Her accolades include the Prime Minister’s Award for works for children and teenagers, City of Wrocław Award, Medal of Saint Brother Albert (1998), Wrocław Music Prize (2002), and Polish Composers’ Union Award (2004). In 2006 and 2018 she received the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for music, in 2013 – the Gloria Artis Silver Medal for Merit to Culture, and in 2017 – the Medal for Merit to the City of Wrocław. 

Her oeuvre comprises several dozen compositions, mostly conceived as cycles: Frescos, Thinking of Vivaldi,MadrigalsReportages, and Ecomusic

Selected works (since 1995): Cycle Ecomusic – Terra for male choir and piano (1995), Cycle Ecomusic – Bartokiana (1st version) for two cellos and piano (1995), ...el Condor... Thinking of Vivaldi – Spring, concerto for two marimbas and chamber orchestra (1996), Fresco VII – Uru Anna for tenor, large mixed choir and large symphony orchestra (1998–99), Madrigal I – In Search of Fleeing Echoes for two violins (2000), Bartokiana(2nd version) for marimba and chamber orchestra, Madrigal II – An Algorithm of a Big City’s Sleep for marimba (2001), Lydian Music for string orchestra (2002), Magnificat MM for soprano, mixed choir and large symphony orchestra (2005), Madrigal III – Birds on the Horizon of Duskfor clarinet, trombone, cello and piano (2006), ...como el sol e la mar... from the cycle inking of Vivaldi – Summer for flute and chamber orchestra (2007), Reportage I – Palm Sunday in Nazareth for saxophone, percussion and organ (2009), Reportage III – ICE-LAND. Rainbow Bridges over Dettifoss for chamber orchestra and amplified harp (2011), Madrigalfor two pianos (2011), HARMONIES for symphony orchestra (2011), Cycle Ecomusic – Rain Forest for flutes and symphony orchestra (2013), Reportage II – Figures on the Sand / Journeys of the Age-Old Scarab for flute, violin, viola and cello (2014; version for flute quintet, 2019), Bartokiana (3rd version) for flute, saxophone and piano (2015), Cycle Ecomusic – Galakticos α for flute and organ (2015), Galakticos β, triptych for two flutes and organ (2017), Cycle Ecomusic – Assisi for cello, children’s choir and large symphony orchestra (2017), Reportage IV – Ring of Tara / Time Machine for percussion octet (2018), In the Zenith of the Sun for flute, bells, vibraphone, marimba, harp and cello (2018), Reportage V – Ao-Tea-Roa (The Land of Long White Clouds) for harpsichord and string orchestra (201819),Reportage VI – Landmannalaugar Sonata for two flutes and harpsichord (2019), The Nightingale and the Stone from the cycle Reportages for two pianos and two percussion (2020).