Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego

HIRE LIBRARY CATALOG WEBSHOP PBM

Composers

Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar

1924-2008

Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar, the Polish composer, a graduate of the State Higher Music School (now the Academy of Music) in Cracow, was born on 5 September 1924 in Lvov. She studied the piano with Jan Hoffman and composition with Stanisław Wiechowicz, gaining diplomas in both areas in 1955. In 1963 she started to work as a teacher in the Cracow Academy, with which she was connected ever since. She lectures on composition, instrumentation, fugue and the contemporary compositional techniques. Between 1974-75 she was Head of the Composition Department of the Cracow Academy; then she performed the duties of the Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music (1975-79). In 1978 she became Vice-rector and between 1987-93 she held the post of Rector of this institution. Between 1964-71 she performed the function of the chairman of the Cracow Branch of the Polish Composers' Union and between 1971-73 she was active in the Main Management of the Polish Composers' Union. She has sat on juries of many Polish and foreign composition competitions. Between 1993-1999 she was a member of the Council for the Higher Artistic Schools.

The composer's work has enjoyed unusual esteem from the beginning. In 1954 she won a distinction at the competition of the Circle of the Young Composers of the Polish Composers' Union for her Oberek from the Suite of the Polish Dances, in 1961 and 1966 - distinctions for Hexaedreand Exodus at the International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim; she was awarded first prize and gold medal at the International Competition for Women Composers at Buenos Aires for her Music for Strings (1962), third prize at the Artur Malawski Composition Competition in Cracow for Concertante Variations (1966) and second prize at the Karol Szymanowski Composition Competition for Polish Madonnas (1974). Moreover, she is the winner of many other prizes, including the prize of the Polish Composers' Union, the Ministry of Culture and Art (honoured five times), the prize of the Prime Minister for her work for children and young people. She has also been decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit, the Chevalier's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland, the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland as well as the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland. She has also been conferred the honorary title and the medal "For Contributions to the National Culture".

She has given many lectures on her works, contemporary music and the new notation in Poland and abroad (Leipzig, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Lvov). In 1994 a television film entitled Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazarwas made as part of the cycle Albums of Cracow Music.

She died in Cracow on 27 September 2008.