Szwajgier Olga, *15 January 1944 Słowikowa (near Nowy Sącz), Polish singer (soprano and mezzo-soprano). She studied vocal under L. Kukawska and S. Hoffmanowa in State Higher Music School in Krakow (graduated in 1970). She performed at the festivals Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, Poznań Music Spring, including Italy, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Germany, Greece, the United States. She has been a member of the “Muzyka Centrum” Art Society, since 1981. In 1987, she received the critics’ prize at the Berlin Biennale. In 1989 she formed a quartet, under the name “Kwartet Olgi Szwajgier.” In 1991, she took part in the concert to commemorate the Centenary of Carnegie Hall. She has performed at new music festivals and concerts, including in 2000 in Stuttgart and Seoul, in 2001 in New York, and in 2003 and 2005 in Berlin. Szwajgier has special technical abilities, her vocal range between 4 and 5 octaves. She specialises in performing contemporary music pieces, in addition to composing and writing texts. She gave numerous world premieres of compositions written, among others, by V. Gelmetti, M. Stachowski, A. Nikodemowicz, B. Schäffer, A. Krzanowski, N. Ain, M. Ptaszynska, N. Castiglioni. She has recorded several albums and has appeared on radio, television, and film. Szwajgier teaches at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Krakow (PWST) since 1974. In 1993 and 1995 she was a lecturer at the Internationale Akademie für Neue Komposition in Schwaz, Austria, and during the International Workshop of New Music in Krakow.
