film music (michael nyman, alexandre desplat, elliot goldenthal, christopher young, clint mansell, thomas newman, mychael danna, gabriel yared, james newton howard, jon brion, danny elfman, howard shore, shirley walker, marco beltrami, ennio morricone, mark snow and others)
classical (monteverdi, purcell, bach, britten, bartok, schostakovitch, peteris vasks, lutoslawski, lou harrison, schnittke, arvo pärt, erkki-sven tüür, lepo sumera, john corigliano, steve reich, john adams, max richter, leszek mozdzer)
Recently awarded a postgraduate diploma in composition from the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, Szymon Brzóska trained under the baton of Luc Van Hove. He attended workshops directed by Marek Stachowski, Tapio Tuomela, Remigijus Merkelys, Toivo Tulev and Peteris Plakidis between 2000 and 2004.
This young Polish composer, who also holds a Master in Arts diploma from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan (where Miroslaw Bukowski was his professor), has already attracted considerable attention among professionals of classical and contemporary music: his works have been performed in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Poland; in 2003, his Antiphona Beatae Mariae Virginis was chosen by the Polish chamber choir Schola Cantorum Gedanensis for their concert at the Festival of Sacred Music Maria Auxilium Christianorum in Rumia; and in 2004, he won both the 3rd prize at the Adam Didur Composition Competiton in Sanok (Poland) for Czarna róza (The Black Rose), song for tenor and piano with words by Zbigniew Herbert and the 2nd prize in the Composition Competition for Choral Passion Song in Bydgoszcz (Poland) for Vexilla Regis Prodeunt.
In 2006, his 6 miniatures for cello and piano was chosen for the workshop with the prestigious Belgian Prometheus Ensemble and he also counted among the selected few at the competition for composition of the music @venture 2007 festival in Antwerp, which commissioned him to create a piece for the prestigious Belgian ensemble Solisti del Vento to be premiered in October during the 2007 edition of the festival.
His Concerto for piano, strings and percussion "Hommage a Schnittke" was performed during the 42nd edition of Festival of Polish Piano Music in Slupsk (Poland) with pianist Barbara Drazkowska.
Szymon Brzóska is particularly interested in the synergy between music and other arts, such as contemporary dance, theatre and cinema. He has participated in soundtracks for several film and theatre projects in Poland. He composed the original soundtrack for the French film "Le bruit des gens autour", directed by Diastème and produced by Cipango Productions.
"Sutra" choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, in collaboration with Antony Gormley and Monks from the Shaolin Temple with Szymon's music for string trio, piano and percussion (which is played live during the performances) had its premiere in May 2008 in Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. It was presented at prestigious theatres and festivals in Europe through 2008, and will tour across the world in 2009 and 2010.
Currently Szymon is in New York composing a score for string quartet and piano, this time for a new dance piece by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui with the Cedar Lake Company.
Recently he collaborated with Flamenco dancer Maria Pages and her musicians as well as with Patrizia Bovi, artistic director of the medieval musical ensemble "Micrologus".
SELECTED LIST OF WORKS:
* Toccata for piano (2000)
* Pange Lingua and Antiphona Beatae Mariae Virginis for mixed choir (2001)
* Nubis & Angor for cello, piano and guitar (2001/2002)
* 5 songs with words by Paul Celan for bass-baritone and piano (2002)
* Tryptyk for violin and piano (2003)
* String Quartet „Timor officit” (2003)
* En écoutant des fleurs (d’apres F.Khnopff) for solo flute (2004)
* Czarna róza for tenor and piano(2004)
* Vexilla Regis Prodeunt for mixed choir (2004)
* Lux aeterna for mixed choir (2005)
* Palac lodowy (The Ice Palace), ballet in 3 scenes (2005)
* 6 miniatures for cello and piano (2006)
* All these dawns (after Auden) for piano solo (2006)
* Concerto for piano, strings and percussion (2006)
* 3 aphoristic songs for bass and piano with words by e.e.cummings (2007)
* Vae soli! for violin, clarinet and piano (2007)
* Between the shade and the light for clarinet A and clarinet Si (2007)
I am SO in love with this piece... It's the first song on my MixPod playlist at the moment (your 'praying' is my page theme music). Have a lovely week! :-)
hey szymi! i just 'finished' my myspace music finally and i wanted to let you know! it's not as snazzy as some, but it's got music, photo's, and bio so far... would love to know what you think and also to spread the word around, I've got a website now, so let our friends know they can friend me there. how's it going in new york? i'm gonna email you soon! big kiss x x x and i LOVE your new music by the way. jo.
Bardzo dziękuję za dodanie mnie do Twojej, Szymonie, listy przyjaciół na stronie MySpace. Cieszę się, skoro mam możliwość wsłuchiwania się w skomponowane przez Ciebie dźwięki; obietnica dołączenia nowych nagrań sprawiła mi dodatkową radość i wzbudziła muzyczną ciekawość. W przesłanej wiadomości wspomniałeś Maxa Richtera. Rzeczywiście, bardzo lubię jego kompozycje; jeszcze do wczoraj na moim profilu rozbrzmiewał utwór Spiegel im Spiegel Arvo Parta, ale późnym wieczorem postanowiłem to zmienić i zdecydowałem się na Embers Maxa Richtera (jest prawdą, że Richter potrafi zawładnąć wyobraźnią słuchacza). Tymczasem pozdrawiam bardzo serdecznie i życzę dobrego tygodnia! K.
hello, how are you ? maybe you would like to come and listen to the zvezdoliki concert ? it's on october 5th - 8 pm in melsele (is close to antwerp, esp. when you take tram 3) . would be nice to talk again xx
Hey Szymon, I'd like to study your music. Is there a melancholic score for piano you can give me? Or perhaps something not to difficult for cello, accompanied by piano? I hope so! Thanks & CU soon x Koekie
Hey Sz.! Sorry for not having responded to your last message. I'm kind of busy at the moment. It's my last two weeks in Berlin and I've finally begun to write my PhD, which has changed my life. It seems like at last the pieces of my brain-puzzle are slowly falling together. Berlin has been good to me, better than I could have ever imagined. I'll miss it, though I also miss my darling Bram at the moment. Of course I'll be very happy to see you again, too. I hope we'll find time to chat for hours as soon as I'm back! :-). It's going to be a roller coaster ride to finish this, however. I guess I'll become somewhat of a hermit in the next ten-twelve months..
I hope you're doing fine, my friend. It must have been a hurly-burly summer for you!
Next Sunday I'm going to see Sascha Waltz in the Staatsoper! :-)
to jest P. Szymanski , fragment z festiwalu jaki ial w warszawie jakis czas temu... polecam pelne wydanie dvd 4 plyty dvd...i prawie wszytskie utwory jakie skomponowal ;]
hello sweetey.. well, all i can tell you is that it is a private concert .. kind of a birthday present/concert for somebody turning 70 ..it's only family allowed . but i could always ask to make an exception ? but i'm nog sure if that will work out :-/ o. p.s. do you by any chance have music for flute and piano ?
Nu online!
