Elżbieta Sikora

Elżbieta Sikora b. October 20, 1943, Lviv Elżbieta Sikora graduated in sound engineering in the class of Antoni Karużas at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw (currently the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music), then studied electroacoustic music with Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle at the GRM in Paris (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) and finally – again in Warsaw – studied composition with Tadeusz Baird and Zbigniew Rudziński. While still a student, together with Krzysztof Knittel and Wojciech Michniewski, she founded the KEW compositional group, with which she appeared in Poland, Austria, West Germany and Sweden. As a scholarship holder of the French Government, she returned Paris, where she finally decided to live. She continued her musical formation at IRCAM and at courses with Betsy Jolas, then in California with John Chowing at CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford University. She has conducted composing courses in Gdansk, Hamburg, Munich and Ulm. She has lectured at universities in Angoulême, Marne-la-Vallée and Chicago, and after many years she also returned to Warsaw as a visiting professor. Since 2011, she has managed the Wrocław Musica Electronica Nova festival. Conceived from the spirit of the avant-garde and experiment, Sikora’s work is a kind of revision of musical tradition based on new techniques and modern technologies. Two trends coexists within her: an electronic one, and one associated with traditional instruments, with a special role for large instrumental forms (including concertos) and vocal-instrumental ones (including four operas) occupy a special place. Major awards and distinctions: 1993 | Prix ​​du printemps for lifetime achievement 2013 | award of the Polish Composers Union for outstanding compositional creativity, for the opera “Madame Curie” and curatorial activity 2014 | the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Major compositions: 1981 | “The Head of Orpheus” for tape 1990–2000 | Piano Concerto no. 1 “Hommage à Frédéric Chopin” 2005 | Concerto for saxophone(s) and orchestra “Michelangelo” 2009 | “Chicago al fresco” for tape 2010–12 | the opera “Madame Curie”