studied law at the University of Łódź, music theory with Marta Szoka and composition with Zygmunt Krauze at the Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź. He then took up three-year postgraduate masterclasses with Ivan Fedele at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. 

In 2011–14 he took part in CURSUS 1 and CURSUS 2 – IRCAM courses in electronics and new technologies. He developed his abilities during the 13th Young Composers’ Meeting in Apeldoorn (2007), workshops conducted by Klangforum Wien and Trilok Gurtu (Venice Biennale 2007, 2008), Voix Nouvelles sessions with Brian Ferneyhough at Royamount near Paris (2009), Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music (2010), De Musica ovvero la fabbrica della creatività (Nuova Consonanza – Rome) with Beat Furrer (2010), Mark Andre (2012), and the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme with Giorgio Battistelli at Aldeburgh (2010–11). He was also the beneficiary of the young composer support programme implemented by the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music (2007–10). 

Stańczyk’s works have been commissioned by prestigious festivals and ensembles, and performed in Europe, Asia (China, Japan, Israel), North America (USA), South America (Chile, Cuba), as well as Australia. He has notably cooperated with Klangforum Wien, Ensemble intercontemporain, Musikfabrik, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Linea, Bang on a Can All Stars, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tokyo Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, Oslo Sinfonietta, Nikel, Algoritmo, Zone Expérimentale, Meitar, E-MEX, Divertimento, Orkest de ereprijs, Elision, Nostri Temporis, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy. 

He has won prizes in more than a dozen competitions for composers, including the Tokyo Competition for Chamber Music Composition, Reading Panel IRCAM, Franco Donatoni Award in Milan, Biennale/ISB David Walter Competition in San Francisco, Salvatore Martirano Award in Illinois, Sun River Competition in Chengdu, as well as scholarships from the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Paris’s Cité des Arts, Aldeburgh Centre of Music, the Italian government, Young Poland programme, Witold Lutosławski Scholarship Programme, Poland’s Minister of Culture and National Heritage, ZAiKS Society of Authors, and the Marshal of the Łódzkie Voivodeship. 

In 2013 Stańczyk was the first Pole to receive the prestigious Tōru Takemitsu Award, Japan’s most important composer prize, granted to him by Sir Harrison Birtwistle. In 2014 he became the City of Paris’s Artist-in-Residence. Five times recommended for Polityka weekly’s Passport Award, he was also nominated (in 2013 and 2015) for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award of the Polish music world. At present, Stańczyk represents Poland in the “16+1” programme of cultural cooperation between China and sixteen European countries. In 2017, he was honoured with the Meritorious for Polish Culture award, granted by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2018 he became the first ever composer-in-residence at Wrocław’s Musica Polonica Nova festival, as well as composer-in-residence at the Italian Bogliasco Foundation’s Study Center and Civitella Ranieri Center in New York. Stańczyk works at the Provincial Administrative Court in Łódź. He teaches composition classes at the Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź, where he obtained his doctoral (2013) and postdoctoral (2016) degrees, and where he is currently, among others, the rector’s plenipotentiary for equal treatment. In 2020 the President of Poland granted him the state title of Professor of Arts. Stańczyk has also been a guest lecturer in, among others, the United States, China, Israel, Norway, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, France, and Italy. 

His film music projects include collaborations with Borys Lankosz at Dark, Almost Night and Kobro / Strzemiński: A Fantastic Tale. These compositions received, respectively, two nominations for the best soundtrack of the year at the Cracow Film Music Festival (2019) and Grand Prix Komeda 2019 for the best music written for a 2018 Polish feature movie. Stańczyk also creates music for multimedia and intermedia spectacles and collaborates with such popular music stars as Aphex Twin, Pianohooligan, and Natalia Zamilska. 

He is an ordinary member of the Polish Composers’ Union, ZAiKS Society of Authors, and ISCM Polish Section. His works have been published by PWM Edition in Poland and Vicky Edition in Milan.