Andrzej Kurylewicz

Kurylewicz was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His musical education began at the Lwów Music School under Stanisław Ludkiewycz when he was aged 6. From 1946 to 1950, he continued his education at the Instytut Muzyczny in Gliwice. Between 1950 and 1954, he studied classical piano under Henryk Sztompka and composition under Stanisław Wiechowicz at the Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Muzyczna in Kraków. In 1954, he was excluded from academic life owing to Kurylewicz's professional involvement with jazz and his refusal to join the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR, or Polish Communist Party).[2]

In 1954, by invitation of Władysław Szpilman, Kurylewicz accepted a full-time position at the Polish Radio in Kraków and found his own ensemble, Sekstet Organowy Polskiego Radia. In 1957, he became the first Polish musician from behind the Iron Curtain to receive the first prize at the Stuttgart Jazz Festival in West Germany. In 1958, he married the singer Wanda Warska and wrote his Opus 1 for piano solo, Somnambulicy and film music for Ostatni Strzał. The following year, he made his debut as a theatre music composer with Książę Niezłomny by Juliusz Słowacki and directed by Mieczysław Kotlarczyk. In addition, he wrote music for the film "Powrót", directed by Jerzy Passendorfer.[3] From 1964 to 1966, he directed the Orkiestra Polskiego Radia i Telewizji in Warsaw and lost this position after his second refusal to join the PZPR. In the period of 1964-68 he wrote his Opus 2, Concerto na tematy Adama Jarzębskiego (I, II, III).

In 1965, Kurylewicz set up Piwnica Artystyczna Kurylewiczów together with his wife, Wanda Warska, and was joined by his daughter Gabriela Kurylewicz in 1987. From 1969 to 1978, he became the founder and leader of the ensemble Formacja Muzyki Współczesnej (Contemporary Music Formation), known for performing contemporary jazz and European avant garde music, and they travelled in the West. He established himself as a theatrical composer, working together with directors such as Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, Zygmunt Hübner, Adam Hanuszkiewicz, Jerzy Gruza and Erwin Axer, and wrote film music for Jerzy Passendorfer, Janusz Morgenstern (Polskie drogi 1976), Ryszard Ber (Lalka 1977, Droga, Domy z deszczu), Janusz Majewski (Sublokator, Lekcja martwego języka), Zbigniew Kuźmiński (Nad Niemnem), and Janusz Zaorski, (Panny i Wdowy).[4]

From 1970 onwards, Kurylewicz mainly composed classical music: solo instrumental works (for example Piano Crumbs for piano, Impromptu avec Romarin for harpsichord, Due Pezzi Semplici for organ, Drzeworyt I and II for flute, Moods for double bass and Tubesque for tuba); sacred music (Missa Brevis, Te Deum, Five Psalms after the Roman Missal, Ave Maris Stella, Ave Maria); chamber works (String Quartets I, II, III and IV, String Trio Dormitina and three piano trios Trio per Tre, Tango Rubio, El Dancion Sentimental); piano quintets (Gabriela, Larghetto Kamienie Staromiejskie) and brass trios and quintets. Moreover, he wrote for string orchestra (Psalm 60, Szkic do Krajobrazu, Sonet, Serenata Leopolitana, Witraż w Miejscowości N.) and symphonic orchestra (Schema Quatro per Quatro, Adagio da Dramma, Suita Symfoniczna Pan Tadeusz, Suita Symfoniczna Polskie Drogi, two Symphonic Poems In Verona and Godzina się Zniża, Symphonic Sketch Dziesięć Sekwencji Nad Niemnem and Msza Warszawska).

Kurylewicz wrote congenial song cycles set to the poems of Jan Kochanowski, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stefan Garczyński, Alexander Pushkin, Reiner Maria Rilke, Osip Mandelstam, Czesław Miłosz, Halina Poświatowska, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Stanisław Grochowiak, Zbigniew Herbert, Carmina Burana, German baroque poets, Julia Hartwig, Ludmiła Marjańska, Gabriela Kurylewicz and lyrics by Wanda Warska and Agnieszka Osiecka.

In 1999, Kurylewicz established the Kurylewicz Trio (Andrzej Kurylewicz - piano, Paweł Pańta - double bass, Cezary Konrad - percussion) which Bohdan Pociej described as "enchanting by its lightness, charme, elegance, taste, precision, concise harmonies, innovative variations, form and lyricism." During the last years of his life he performed piano works by Karol Szymanowski and Frederic Chopin. Every Monday, with his Kurylewicz Trio, with Wanda Warska and Gabriela Kurylewicz he performed in the Piwnica Artystyczna Kurylewiczów. In 1984 he became the Composer in Residence of the City of Wilhelmshaven (West Germany) and in 1989 he began a collaboration with the University of Kansas (USA).[5]

Kurylewicz died of a heart attack in his sleep on 12 April 2007 in Konstancin-Jeziorna and was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.[6] From 2007, according to the will of the composer, Gabriela Kurylewicz and her '"Fundacja Forma" published the critical and complete edition of his Opera Omnia, and initiates and produces the annual festival of music and poetry, the "Andrzej Kurylewicz Music Days". His music is performed at the "Piwnica Artystyczna Kurylewiczów" in Warsaw and regularly at Steinway Hall in London; the complete list of his works is available on the website of the Piwnica Artystyczna Kurylewiczów and Fundacja Forma.[7]