Krupowicz, Stanisław (EN)

Krupowicz Stanisław, *25 November 1952 Grodno, Polish composer. He studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw (diploma 1976); in 1981, he completed composition studies under W. Kotoński and T. Baird at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. In 1979, he attended Bayreuth International Summer School (composition), and in 1982, the Darmstadt Summer Courses in. In 1982–83, he was a Fulbright scholarship holder at the Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University in California, where he studied composition and computer music under the supervision of J. Chowning and L. Smith. In 1986, he received the Prix de Paris, a Stanford University award for the realisation of a piece at IRCAM in Paris. In 1984–88, he was a research assistant at Stanford. In 1989, he received a B. Piasecka-Johnson and Stanford University scholarship for research on Stradivarius violins, and in 1989 a PhD from Stanford University. In 1991–92, he completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Glasgow as part of a Leverhulme Foundation scholarship. Awards: ASCAP 1985, 2^nd prize at the Newcomp Computer Music Competition, in 1987 a distinction at the 8^th International Irino Prize Competition, in 1994 his Fin de siècle for orchestra won 3^rd prize at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. In 1994–96, he was a member of the repertoire committee of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2019, he was a laureate of the ZKP award. Since 1996, he has been teaching composition and electronic music at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, where in 2003–2020, he was the head of the Computer Composition Studio. In 2005, he was one of the initiators of the Wrocław festival “Musica electronica nova.” In 2012, he received the title of professor of musical arts.

The precision and logic of thinking, which may have prompted Krupowicz to study mathematics and later computers, are reflected in his work. We find in it both inspiration from the music of Xenakis (Epiphora), as well as attempts to use various algorithms (Easter Disloyalty of CD), musical material composed strictly (Tempo 72), also using a computer (Ardo 4031). Krupowicz is one of the Polish pioneers of music created and performed using a computer. The technical means in Krupowicz’s work also refer to various historical periods: the Renaissance (Miserere), the Baroque (Oratorio for Christmas), to dodecaphony or neoclassicism. In various combinations, there are allusions not only to historical music (Fin-de-siècle) but also to jazz. Krupowicz thus undertakes a specific game with the recipient, which he called surconventional, i.e., analogously to surrealism, mixing conventions (both compositional and performance) and leaving the listener uncertain as to their origin. On the one hand, we have twelve-note harmony and modern colouring, on the other – tonal harmony and polyphony, contrasts of registers and sharpness of instrumental, vocal or electronic colours. In this area, his experience is very extensive, in a dozen or so pieces electroacoustic means appear, from tape, through live electronics, to the computer, and it can be not only a compositional tool, but also a source of sound. Variation of dynamics, complication of forms and allusiveness are the features that give Krupowicz’s music expressiveness and individual character.

Literature: A. Thomas Krupowicz Stanisław, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition, ed. S. Sadie, vol.13. Macmillan Publishers London Limited, London 2001; A. Thomas Polish Music since Szymanowski, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; Kompozytorzy polscy 1918–2000, vol. II, ed. M. Podhajski, Gdańsk–Warsaw 2005; K. Baculewski Współczesność cz.2: 1975–2000, “Historia Muzyki Polskiej” VII, Sutkowski Edition, Warsaw 2012; A. Mądro Muzyka a nowe media. Polska twórczość elektroakustyczna przełomu XX i XXI wieku, Akademia Muzyczna, Kraków 2017.