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Composers

Jagoda Szmytka

*1982

In 1999–2005, she studied philosophy and the history of art at the University of Wrocław, then in 2004–2007 music theory and composition under the supervision of Krystian Kiełb and electroacoustic composition under the supervision of Cezary Duchnowski at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. In 2007–2012, she completed postgraduate studies in composition with Pierluigi Billone, Beat Furrer, Gerhard Müller-Hornbach and Wolfgang Rihm at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and the University of Music in Karlsruhe, respectively. Since 2021, she has been working on her doctoral dissertation on parameters and counterpoint in extended composition entitled “Essays, Etudes, Exercises. On music fundamentals and elementary counterpoint in extended composition” at the Artistic Research Center at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts under the supervision of Prof. Johannes Kretz, Prof. Gesine Schröder, Prof. Tasos Zembylas (MDW) and Dr Franz Schubert (die Angewandte).

Over the last ten years, Jagoda Szmytka has been giving guest lectures on composing with sounds, images and objects, referentiality and spatiality of music and its social impact, at such academic centres as Hochschule für Musik Mainz, Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow. She was also invited to participate in numerous symposia and conferences organised, among others, by the Mozarteum in Salzburg or INMM in Darmstadt. Szmytka has also translated texts on composition techniques, e.g. she translated selected texts by Kaija Saariaho, Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail on the structuring of timbre in instrumental music and the relationship between timbre and harmony.

Jagoda Szmytka has been an active composer since 2007. Her music is commissioned and programmed by such festivals and institutions as the Grand Theater National Opera (Warsaw), Warsaw Autumn, Muzyka Polonica Nova (Wrocław), Muzyka Electronica Nova (Wrocław), Sacrum Profanum (Kraków), Audio Art (Kraków), KODY Festival (Lublin), Wien Modern, Musiktheatertage Wien, Lucerne Festival, Akademie de Künste Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Villa Musica Mainz, Ultraschall (Berlin), ECLAT (Stuttgart), GLOBALE (Karlsruhe), Acht Brücken (Köln), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Opera Academy), Foundation Royaumont, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, GAIDA (Vilnius), GAUDEAMUS (Utrecht), SPOR (Aarhus), Tokyo Experimental Festival, Transart (Bolzano), Tzlil Meudcan (Tel Aviv), Time of Music (Viitasaari), CYCLE Music and Arts Festival (Reykjavik), Ottawa Chamberfest.

Szmytka’s works were also commissioned by, among others, institutions such as the National Institute of Music and Dance, the German Music Council, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, SWR and the Swiss Re Foundation. Her work was supported by institutions such as the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Goethe Institut. Jagoda Szmytka cooperates with many outstanding soloists and ensembles – Anna Kwiatkowska, Eva Zöllner, Gośka Isphording, Maciej Frąckiewicz, Małgorzata Walentynowicz, Paul Hübner, Sebastian Berweck, Steffen Ahrens, Duo leise dröhnung, Ensemble Garage, Ensemble Interface, Ensemble l’arsenale, Kwartludium and Riot Ensemble. Her music has been performed by such ensembles as Arditti Quartet, Bang on a Can, Continuum Ensemble, Decoder ensemble, Defunensemble, Elision Ensemble, E-Mex Ensemble, Ensemble KNM Berlin, Ensemble Modern, ensemble mosaik, ensemble recherche, Hashtag Ensemble, Kronos Quartet , Notabu Ensemble, Phace Ensemble, Platypus Ensemble, Scenatet Ensemble, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble and proMODERN vocal sextet. In 2015, the Wergo label released her portrait album “bloody cherries” as part of the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik program curated by the German Music Council, containing compositions for amplified chamber ensembles.

Jagoda Szmytka was a composer-in-residence at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2011, 2014–2015, at La Muse en Circuit in Paris and at Herrenhaus Edenkoben in 2013, and at Villa Serpentara in Olevano Romano in 2017.

PWM Editions is currently working on the publication of the following works by Jagoda Szmytka: for travelers like angels or vampires for amplified chamber ensemble, greetings from a doppelgänger for amplified chamber ensemble, contact speakers and audio projection, f for music for electric guitar and amplified cello, pores open wide shut for chamber ensemble, inane prattle for amplified chamber ensemble and audio projection, real life song for amplified voice with chamber ensemble and effects, sky-me, type-me for four voices and megaphones.