VIVO XXX

His symphonies are hailed as a worthy continuation of Witold Lutosławski’s legacy. He himself is said to be the musical postmodernist opening Polish music to the 21st century. Solidarity of Arts' VIVO XXX is fortunate to have been written by

Paweł Mykietyn

Paweł Mykietyn was born in Oława, southwestern Poland,  in 1971. He is one of the greatest and most intriguing contemporary Polish composers, author of autonomous music, theatre and film scores, as well as an excellent clarinet player. He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in 1996 under prof. Włodzimierz Kotoński. During his studies he met Paweł Szymański, and it is safe to say that Mykietyn’s fascination with his senior colleague’s work resulted in such pieces as 3 for 13 (first prize at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1995, the young composers category) as well as Eine kleine Herbstmusik (1995) and Piano Concerto (1997), both commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn festival.

He says that the difficulty in composing lies in finding reasonable balance between mathematics and spontaneity. The former is a pre-requisite when he writes symphonies, the latter comes in handy when he composes for the theatre, something he has been doing since the beginning of his career. He worked with a number of renowned Polish directors, among others Krzysztof Warlikowski (several dozen joint productions, including the 2001 chamber opera The Ignoramus and the Madman), Grzegorz Jarzyna, Piotr Cieślak, Adam Hanuszkiewicz and Andrzej Woron. He wrote scores to many Polish films of note, including a short film Father (Ojciec) from Solidarność, Solidarność… (2005), 33 Scenes from Life (2008) and Andrzej Wajda’s Sweet Rush (2009). In June 2008 he received the Opus award of the public media (classical music category) for his Second Symphony. That year also saw the premiere of the St Mark’s Passion to his music at the Wratislavia Cantans festival.

Paweł Mykietyn won a bundle of awards to date, including the prestigious Paszport of the Polityka weekly and three 2009 Fryderyks (the Polish equivalent of Grammy awards) for his first (no misprint!) album called Speechless Song. He has won in the Composer of the Year, Contemporary Music Album of the Year and Best Recording in Polish Music categories. In May 2010 Paweł Mykietyn's music to the film Trick (2010) won him an individual award of the 35th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.