born in 1953 in Poznań, she graduated in composition after studies with Andrzej Koszewski at that city’s State High School of Music. She worked as a violinist in Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of the Polish Radio. At present she is a professor of composition and head of the Electroacoustic Music Studio at the Poznań Music Academy. In 1989–2010 she also taught sonology at the Academy of Fine Arts (now the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts) in Poznań. 

She has extensively written and lectured on contemporary Polish music, electroacoustic music, the history of experimental music, sound ecology, and traditional Japanese music at universities in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology in Cracow, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the annual meetings of ISEA International, International Computer Music Conference, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, as well as numerous academic sessions in Poland and abroad. She has taught summer courses, seminars, and workshops in Poland, Belarus, Canada, Chile, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Moldova, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. She is a juror, curator, expert and consultant of various musical, intermedial, and educational projects in different European countries, including institutions of the European Union. 

For many years, Lidia Zielińska has done community service for various organisations and festivals. She was the vice-president of the Polish Composers’ Union’s Managing Board and of the Polish Society for Electroacoustic Music (PSeME). She served on the Repertoire Committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1989–92 and 1996–2005) and as artistic director of the Poznań Music Spring Contemporary Music Festival (1989–92) as well as the Child and Sound International Festival in Poznań. She was also a member of the Programme Committee of the ISCM World Music Days in Warsaw, the Polish-German Radio_Copernicus, the managing board of the Greater Poland Consultative Committee of Artistic and Academic Circles, and other institutions. After the political upheaval of 1989, she was a co-founder of BREVIS Music Publishers (1990), Child and Sound Foundation (1991), Monochordmusic quarterly (1993), Friends of Warsaw Autumn Foundation (1998), “Zachęta” Greater Poland Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts (2004), PSeME (2005), and others. 

Lidia Zielińska’s works have been performed at festivals in numerous countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas including the Berliner Festspiele, Cube Fest, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Huddersfield, ICMC, ISEA, Musicacoustica Beijing, NYCEMF, the 1983 Signum Crucis in Warsaw, and Warsaw Autumn, as well as concerts and events dedicated to her music at Poznań’s Galeria ON, Wrocław’s Entropia, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, and ZKM in Karlsruhe. 

She has won prizes in 17 competitions for composers, including 1st Prizes at Jeunesses Musicales (Belgrade, 1979), Internationale Wettbewerb für Komponistinnen (Mannheim, 1981), ZAiKS (Warsaw, 1982), Max Deutsch Contest (Paris, 1984), Künstlerhaus (Boswil, 1986), and L’Opéra Autrement (Avignon, 1988). In 2007 Lidia Zielińska received the Polish Composers’ Union Award “for outstanding and versatile achievements in the field of composition,” and in 2015, the Gloria Artis Medal of Merit for Culture. 

Selected works (since 2005): The Cases of Mr von K., ballet–performance, electronic music (2005), Lunches in Rejowiec 1965–1565, text–sound composition (2006), From the Garden of Sciences for choir and CD to words from Ecclesiastes (2006), Open Your Ears! Open Your Eyes!, audiovisual miniature for children (2006), Conrad’s Seven Islands for electronics and ten amplified instruments (2007), The Eighth Island for CD (2008), To Have a Title for the Piece... for clarinet, electric guitar and piano (2009), Rust for 5–6 instruments and CD (2010), Canción triste for violin and CD (2010), In the rear for computer (2010), Backstage Pass for computer (ambisonics) / multichannel projection (2010), Melodramafor orchestra (2011), X3 for 14 instruments (2011), The Years for orchestra (2011), Aphasia for tenor saxophone and CD (2012), Ukiyo for 19 instruments (2012), Insectarium for CD, music for a visual arts exhibition (2012), 53 Breaths for glissando flute, 8-channel tape and live electronics (2013), X-3m for ensemble (2013), Looks Chinese, Sounds Polish, installation (2013), Lutosławski DIY–, installation (2013), Lutosławski DIY, ash mob (2013), Slices of Music, interactive installation for children (2013), Missed Link, sound show for traditional singers, instrumental ensemble, mobile instruments, 8-channel tape and live electronics (2013–14), Polish Sonorities, installation (2014), Threesome for 12 instruments, video and live electronics (2014–15), Do cna (Utterly) for ten Chinese instruments (2015), Sinfonia concertante for small sound devices, small percussion and large orchestra (2015), Threesome B for 12 instruments and live electronics (2016), Threesome C for string quartet and tape (2016), Three Hundred for vocal ensemble with soloists, handheld instruments, 8-channel tape and live electronics (2016–17), I Don’t Like is... for youth voices, orchestra and electronics (2018; also version for youth voices, seven instruments and electronics, complete with workshops for young people), Fossl, hommage à Debussy for nine instruments (2018), Klangorfor symphony orchestra (2019), Desertification for orchestra, electronic media, children and space (2020–21).