Szpyrka, Monika
Born in 1993 in Cracow, she obtained her MMus in composition from Anna Zawadzka-Gołosz’s class at the Academy of Music in her home city, a BMus in music theory, as well as completing a solo programme with Juliana Hodkinson, Niels Rønsholdt, and Simon Steen-Andersen at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Currently she is a DMA student at the Academy of Music in Cracow. Her works have been performed in concert in Poland and internationally, including at the Cracow Accordion Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Sacrum Profanum, Pulsar Festival in Copenhagen, Cracow International Festival of Composers, Panorama and RAMA in Aarhus, Musica Electronica Nova in Wrocław, Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Young Composers’ Meeting in Apeldoorn, Organ Music Days in Cracow, Ostrava New Music Days, and Festival Aktuelle Musik in Nuremberg. She has collaborated with ensembles and musicians such as Aarhus Sinfonietta, Airborne Extended Ensemble, Duo van Vliet, E-MEX Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, ensemble recherche, Gośka Isphording, Henrik Brendstrup, Kompopolex, Lutosławski Quartet, Małgorzata Walentynowicz, Matthias Geuting, Melos Ensemble, NJYD, Orkest De Ereprijs, Ostravská Banda, and Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble. She has participated in the Donaueschinger Musiktage Next Generation, and SYNTHETIS workshops, taking individual tuition with Mark Andre, Richard Ayres, Marco Blaauw, Zygmunt Krauze, Johannes Kreidler, Bernhard Lang, Martijn Padding, Stefan Prins, Rebecca Saunders, Marco Stroppa, Jennifer Walshe, and Agata Zubel. She has received scholarships from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage (Culture on the Net, 2020, and a scholarship for the best students, 2007) as well as Sapere Auso (2017–18).
Selected works: Raster1 for organ (2014), Engram Disintegration for flute, alto saxophone, two percussion and viola (2014), Inert Oscillations for piano trio (2014), Hypnagogic Hallucinations for percussion, piano, violin and bass guitar (2015), Line of Delimitation Between Solid and Void for string orchestra and two percussion (2015), Crepe Weave for string quartet (2015), Reversion Sculpture for organ, two positive organs and percussion (2015), Irradiation for horn, harp, accordion and viola (2015), Pyrochlore Rotation for percussion, eight double basses and electronics (2016), Cityscape Kraków #5, electroacoustic layer (2016), adHuc for female chamber choir (2016), bug report for bass clarinet, harp, percussion and cello (2016), zero waste tip 1: don’t waste your music for sampler (2017), can you hear colours? #1 for bass flute and audio playback (2017), Instrument Spring Ready-ToWear 2017 for flute, percussion, accordion, audio playback, video and costumes (2017), Count to 10 for two sopranos and 14 instruments (2017), Playing like a... for trumpet (2018), Instrument Fall Ready-To-Wear 2018 v.2 for electric guitar, percussion and costumes (2018), useful statistics for orchestra (2018), collect.consume.repeat for four percussion and audio playback (2018), no-body for female voice and sampler (2019), the problem that has no name: 3 for accordion and harpsichord (2019), Are There Hidden Figures? for string quartet, video and electronics (2018–19), the problem that has no name: 2 for harp and harpsichord (2019), the problem that has no name: 1 for harpsichord and audio playback (2019), zero waste tip 1: don’t waste your music (and video) for sampler and video (2nd version, 2020), the sound of plastic for amplified costume and audio playback (2020), simple amplifying motion for orchestra (2020), Zoom in/dolly out for ensemble and electronics (2020), Unhelpful Thinking Styles for viola, accordion, audio playback and light projection (2020), Bend and Rise for cello and audio playback (2020), Partes Corporis, concept album (2020), Globus Histericus for amplified female throat and audio playback (2020), Spaces of Detachment for clarinet, percussion, piano, cello and electronics (2021), In Constant Rapid Collisions, electroacoustic work (2021), Part among Parts for accordion and ensemble (2021), Corridors in the Mind for solo organ and sampler (2021), self-(un)winding for ensemble (2021), SZERLIT for piano, accordion and audio playback (2022), sustainable music for flute, alto saxophone, guitar, percussion and objects (2022).