International Festival of Kraków Composers
| International Festival of Kraków Composers | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Experimental music, contemporary classical music |
| Dates | April |
| Location | Poland |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Website | Official site |
The International Festival of Kraków Composers (Międzynarodowy Festiwal Kompozytorów Krakowskich) is a contemporary music festival that has been held in Kraków, Poland since 1989. It is one of two major festivals of its kind held each year in Poland, the other being the Warsaw Autumn. The festival presents concerts that include music by composers with a connection to Kraków, as well as music by composers from around the world. In addition there are workshops and lectures.
Overall responsibility for the festival rests with the Kraków branch of the Polish Composers' Union. From about 1993 up until 2013 the festival was directed by the musicologist Jerzy Stankiewicz, and since 2014 the director has been Marcel Chyrzyński.[1]
Although the festival is normally held in the Northern spring, the 2020 event was postponed until October because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the same reason the 2021 festival was a totally online event.[1]
Premieres of new works are a feature of the festival--in 2025 there were 31 world premieres.[2] Each festival also includes musicological symposiums, with the 2025 topic being "Music in Music", i.e. quotation or incorporation of other music within works. Papers on this subject were delivered by musicologists from the Academy of Music in Kraków including Teresa Malecka, Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz[3], Natalia Szwab, and Marcin Strzelecki[4].[5] At each festival a number of different venues host concerts; in 2025 the venues included the Kraków Philharmonic Hall, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kraków, and the Academy of Music in Kraków[1].
The festival is currently funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland) and the City of Kraków. Entry to all concerts and events is free.[6]
Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers
In 2018 the festival committee inaugurated the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers, for composers of any nationality under the age of 35. The major award consists of a cash prize and a performance at the concurrent year's festival, with the 2026 jury consisting of Marcel Chyrzyński (chairman), Zbigniew Bargielski, Miłosz Bembinow[7], Ivan Buffa (Slovakia), Federico Gardella (Italy), Jeajoon Ryu (South Korea), Grzegorz Palus and Wojciech Widłak.[8]
The major prizewinners have been:[9]
2018 Orestis Papaioannou (Greece/Germany)
2019 Olgierd Juzala-Deprati (Poland)
2020 Otto Wanke (Austria)
2021 Jongsung Oh (South Korea)
2022 Krystian Neścior (Poland)
2023 Junghoon Nam (South Korea)
2024 Ylli Daklani (Republic of Kosovo)
2025 Andrea Mastropasqua (Italy)
References
- ^ a b c "Krakow International Festival of Composers".
- ^ University of Southern California https://polishmusic.usc.edu/2025/04/25/world-premieres-at-the-2025-krakow-intl-festival-of-composers/
- ^ Wikipedia https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C5%82gorzata_Janicka-S%C5%82ysz
- ^ Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Marcin_Strzelecki
- ^ PWM Edition https://pwm.com.pl/en/wypozyczenia/szczegoly/3460606,.html accessed 11 December 2025
- ^ Polish Music Information Centre https://polmic.pl/en/going-on/37th-cracow-international-festival-of-composers
- ^ Wikipedia https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi%C5%82osz_Bembinow
- ^ Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej https://polmic.pl/en/going-on/5th-krzysztof-penderecki-international-competition-for-young-composers
- ^ Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers https://festiwal.zkp.krakow.pl/en/konkurs/