composer and music theorist, born in 1978 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. He graduated with honours from the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz University of Music in Łódź after music theory studies with Ryszard Daniel Golianek (2005) and in composition in the class of Bronislaw Kazimierz Przybylski (2008). He studied electronic music with Krzysztof Knittel. In 2012, he obtained a PhD in composition with a thesis written under Zygmunt Krauze. He has participated in courses taught by Marek Chołoniewski and Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil. 

In 2017 the recording of his piece brut (premiered at the 57th Warsaw Autumn inaugural concert in 2014) represented Poland and won the International Rostrum of Composers in Palermo. He has also been nominated for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award as Personality of the Year (2017) and for the Passport Award of the Polityka weekly (2018). 

His other prizes include two editions of BMW Crash! organised by the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art in Szczecin, 48th and 50th Tadeusz Baird Young Composers’ Competition, 3rd Grażyna Bacewicz International Composer Competition in Łódź, and two Łódź Eureka awards. In 2014, his Stabat Mater was nominated for the Wrocław Polonica Nova Award. In 2021 he received the Energy of Culture prize. 

His music has been presented at festivals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Sweden, Estonia, Italy, and Poland (Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova, Polish Modern Music Festival of Premieres, Sacrum Profanum, KODY / CODES Festival of Traditional and Avant-garde Music, Poznań Music Spring, New Music Days, and Audio Art Festival), as well as at the Cricoteka Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor. In 2016 he was invited to the MusMa European Broadcasting Project; in 2019 Südwestrundfunk commissioned him to write music for the Donaueschinger Musitage 2020. He has cooperated with Arkadiusz Jakubik, Dominik Połoński, Agata Zubel, Ewa Liebchen, Łukasz Długosz and Agata Kielar-Długosz, Gośka Isphording, Paulina Wycichowska, Zorka Wollny, Piotr Stasik (their joint project, Opera about Poland, was nominated for the 2019 Eagles Polish Film Awards in the documentaries category), as well as ensembles such as Bang on a Can All-Stars, New Music Orchestra, Kwartludium, Kwadrofonik, Silesian String Quartet, Music Cooperative Contemporary Ensemble, Hashtag Ensemble, Arte dei Suonatori, Polish Cello Quartet, Małe Instrumenty, and Hańba! 

Artur Zagajewski conducts research on rock music, gives lectures and workshops on 20thand 21st-century music as well as ear training (he was a jury member at the mYear Musical Imagination Festival at Wrocław Academy of Music). He works at the Łódź University of Music and the Moniuszko Music Schools in Łódź. He is a member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the Repertoire Committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival. 

Selected works: Glassmusic-motet for chamber ensemble and tape (2007), Birdsfor accordion, synthesiser and tape (2008), Leaves for chamber ensemble (2008), unhum for symphony orchestra (2009), Orgadronum for chamber choir (2009), Chronophotographic Scenes, ballet (2011), Oratorio for Orchestra and a Choir of Warsaw’s Inhabitants, concert/performance (with Zorka Wollny and Anna Szwajgier, 2011), Stabat Mater for four mixed choirs and chamber orchestra (2012), canto for 16 musicians (2012), EC 14 for four PVC tubes (2012), Nature Morte for 24 PVC tubes (2013), TR13 for accordion and tape (2005–14), brut for cello and early music ensemble (2014), Canzona for five cellos (2014), Mechanotexturefor chamber ensemble (2015), Woodcuts for chamber ensemble and tape (2015), La città futurista for 16 amateurs and orchestra (2015), circulatiofor accordion, quartertone accordion and orchestra (2015), blokhaus C for sound objects (2015), sculpture (from the way of the cross) for four cellos (2016), Steel-Eyed for two punk rock voices and chamber ensemble (2016), Opera about Poland (2016), Modulor for chamber ensemble (2017), Composition arithmétique for piccolo flute and tape (2017), Holy God, Holy and Mighty for male voice and chamber orchestra (2018), chanson– solide for two marimbas (2019), Constructivist Songs for female voice with percussion and string quartet (2019), LA MER /watch?v=y1RpVZNSw6k for chamber ensemble (2019), ricercar for eight cellos (2019), POWERBIT! to excerpts from Dorota Masłowska’s Other People for voices, toy pianos, and synthesiser (2019), Madrigal Music for six-part choir and six instruments (2019), Concerto for two flutes and orchestra (2019), EUR (post cold wave new synth romantic punk) for chamber ensemble (2020), Danses polonaises for two pianos, two synthesisers and tape (2020), und nur dieser Wind for orchestra (2021).