Hanna Kulenty

Hanna Kulenty (born March 18, 1961 in Białystok ) is a Polish composer of contemporary music . Since 1992 Hanna Kulenty has lived and worked alternately in Arnhem ( Netherlands ) and Warsaw ( Poland ).

education

After completing school in Warsaw at the Grazyna Bacewicz Primary Music School and at the Karol Szymanowski Music School (major: piano), she studied composition with Włodzimierz Kotoński from 1980 to 1985 at the Frédéric Chopin School of Music in Warsaw and from 1986 to 1988 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Louis Andriessen . In 1984 and 1988 she took part in the Darmstadt Summer Courses and from 1983 to 1990 in the International Courses for Young Composers of the Polish section of the IGNM in Kazimierz Dolny , where she attended lectures by Iannis Xenakis , Witold Lutosławski , Thomas Kessler and François-Bernard Mâche.

Main activities

From 1989 Hanna Kulenty has been a freelance composer and has received numerous commissions and grants. She has composed two operas and twelve orchestral works and written numerous solo and chamber music works. Since 2007 she has also worked on music for television games and films.

In 1990 and 1991 she received a scholarship from the DAAD's Berlin artist program and from 1993 until today she was funded by the “Fonds voor de Scheppende [Schaffende] Toonkunst”, Netherlands. Kulenty gave guest lectures and seminars in the USA as well as in several European countries at conservatories and music academies in Rotterdam (1989), Warsaw (1990), Arnhem (1990), York (1993), Long Beach (1998), Santa Monica (1998), Los Angeles (1998), Münster (1998), Budapest (2001), Łódz (2002), Amsterdam (2002), Zwolle (2005) and Barcelona (2007). She gave guest lectures at the Munich Biennale (1994 and 1996), at the Bavarian State Opera (2002), at the “Other Minds 10” Festival in San Francisco (2004) and at “Soundstreams Canada” in Toronto (2005).

She was a jury member at national and international composition competitions such as the Munich Biennale (1995), the “Gaudeamus International Composers Award” in Amsterdam (2002), the “Kazimierz Serocki 9th International Composers Competition” in Warsaw (2003), the “International New Chamber Opera Competition 'Orpheus-Luciano Berio' 2003-2004 ”in Spoleto and the“ International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music ”in Krakow (2005 and 2007).

Awards

Already the exam work of the 24-year-olds, the orchestral composition Ad unum , brought her an international success in 1985: a second prize at the “European Young Composers Competition” of the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam.

Between 1986 and 1989 Hanna Kulenty received several prizes from the Polish Composers' Union, including Quinto (first prize, 1986), Breathe (first prize, 1987), Cannon (third prize, 1988) and aaa Tre (second prize, 1989) .

In 2003 Kulenty won the first prize of the “50th International Rostrum of Composers” of UNESCO with her Concerto for Trumpet (2002) , for which she received the Mozart Medal from UNESCO.

Performances

Her orchestral works, including two symphonies (1986; 1987) and several solo concerts (for piano, for violin and for trumpet), were premiered by radio symphony orchestras in the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Germany. In November 2000 Deutschlandfunk organized a portrait concert in Cologne (appeared on the CD “Arcs & Circles”).

The interpreters of her works include ensembles such as the ASKO-Ensemble, Orkest "de ereprijs" and the Kronos Quartet , soloists such as Marco Blaauw , Elzbieta Chojnacka, Isabelle van Keulen and Krzysztof Bąkowski, as well as conductors such as David Porcelijn, Antoni Wit , Peter Hirsch, Péter Eötvös , Ingo Metzmacher , Jurjen Hempel , Renato Rivolta and Ronald Zollman.

Kulenty's compositions were heard for the first time at the Huddersfield Festival 1990 (2nd string quartet, 1990), at the IGNM World Music Days in 1992 (2nd piano concerto, 1991), the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 1993 ( Still Life with a Cello for Solo Cello , 1993) , at the Munich Biennale in 1994 ( A cradle song for violin, violoncello and piano, 1993) and 1996 (one-act opera The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams , libr.Paul Goodman, reg.Claus Guth , 1996, in coproduction with the Hamburg State Opera ) , as well as the Warsaw autumn 1987 ( Quinto for two pianos, 1986), 1989 (1st symphony, 1986), 1992 ( E for E for harpsichord, 1991), 1994 (Concerto for violin with reverberation and orchestra, 1993 [new version of the 1 . Violin Concerts, 1992/93]), 1995 ( Going Up 2 for ensemble, 1995), 1998 ( Stretto for flute, clarinet, violoncello and guitar, 1998) and 1999 ( Sinequan Forte B for cello with reverberation and orchestra, 1994).

Kulenty's works have been published by two publishers: Donemus in Amsterdam and PWM Edition in Krakow.

Catalog raisonné (according to cast)

Opera and stage work

Hoffmanniana (2003) - opera in two acts
The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams (1995) - opera in one act
Przypowieść o ziarnie [Parable on grain] (1985) - chamber opera / monodrama
Island (2006) - stage work for trumpet solo, voice, ensemble and tape
Lost & Found twenty-five (2008) - music-dance theater for ensemble and tape

Orchestral works

Ad unum (1985) - symphony orchestra
Breathe (1987) - chamber orchestra
Certus (1997) - chamber orchestra
Part One (1998) - symphony orchestra
Passacaglia (1992) - chamber orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 2 (1991) - piano, symphony orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 3 (2003) - piano, symphony orchestra
Quatro (1986) - chamber orchestra
Trigon (1989) - chamber orchestra
Sinequan Forte A (1994) - solo amplified cello with delay, symphony orchestra
Sinequan Forte B (1994) solo amplified cello with delay, chamber orchestra
Symphony No. 1 (1986) - symphony orchestra
Symphony No. 2 (1987) - symphony orchestra, mixed choir
Symphony No. 3 (2000) - symphony orchestra
Trumpet Concerto (2002) - trumpet, symphony orchestra
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1993) - violin, symphony orchestra
Violin Concerto No. 2 (1996) - violin, symphony orchestra

Ensemble works

A few minutes for Ereprijs (1992) - ensemble
Air (1991) - ensemble
Elves (1997) - ballet music for ensemble
Flute Concerto no.1 (2001) - flute (amplified, delay) and chamber orchestra
Going Up 2 (1995) - ensemble
Mezzo Tango (2004) - brass band
Mezzo Tango 2 (2005) - ensemble
Piano Concerto No. 1 (1990) - piano, ensemble
Perpetuus (1989) - ensemble
Postcard from Europe (2004) - ensemble
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1992) - violin, ensemble

Chamber music

Arcus (1988) - three percussionists
aaa TRE (1988) - viola, cello, double bass
A Cradle Song (1993) - violin, cello, piano
A Fourth Circle (1994) - violin (or viola / cello) and piano
A Sixth Circle (1995) - trumpet, piano
Asjaawaa (2001) - mezzo soprano, flute, harp, piano, percussion, electronics
Blattinus (1996) - saxophone quartet
Brass No. 2 (2005) - for horn and trumpet
Cannon (1988) - violin, piano
Crossing Lines (2001) - violin, clarinet, piano
Decimo (2000) - for choir, six voices
Going Up 1 (1995) - violin, double bass
Kisses & Crosses (2007) - for piano and percussion
Lysanxia (1994) - gamelan, tape
MM-blues (1999) - two pianos and two percussions
Preludium, Postludium and Psalm (2007) - for cello and accordion
Quinto (1986) - two pianos
Rainbow 3 (2003) - piano and two wind instruments
Rapidus (1998) - saxophone quartet
Ride (1987) - six percussionists
Run (2004) - flute and piano
Sierra (1996) - violin, cello
Stretto (1998) - flute, clarinet, cello, guitar
String Quartet no.1 (1984)
String Quartet No. 2 (1990)
String Quartet No. 3 - Tell me about it (2007)
String Quartet No. 4 (A Cradle Song) (2007)
Sugar-Fela Tango (2009) - for piano and four instruments
Tell me about it 1 (2006) - for clarinet, cello, trombone and piano
Tell me about it 2 (2006) - for bass clarinet, cello, trombone and contra bas
Waiting for ... (1997) - voice, piano

Solo works

Arci (1986) - percussion solo
A Fifth Circle (1994) - alto flute with delay
A Third Circle (1996) - piano solo
Brass No. 1 (2004) - trumps solo
Brass No. 2 (2004) - horn and trumpet
Brass No. 3 (2005) - horn solo or trumpet solo
Brass No. 4 (2007) - tuba solo
Cadenza (1992) - violin solo with delay
Drive Blues (2000) - piano solo
E for E (1991) - harpsichord solo
Harmonium (1999) - harmonium solo
One by One (1988) - marimba solo
Preludium and Psalm (2007) - harmonium solo or another keyboard instrument
Sesto (1985) - piano solo
Sinequan (1993) - cello solo with optional delay
Sinequan (rev. 1993) - cello solo with delay
Still Life with a Cello (1993) - cello solo
Still Life with a Violin (1985) - violin solo
Three Minutes for the Double Bass (1983) - double bass solo

Tape music and electronic music

Prośba o Słońce [Request for the Sun] (1984) - electroacoustic tape
Souvenir from a Sanatorium (1988) - computer music

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Kulenty, Hanna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish composer of contemporary music
DATE OF BIRTH	March 18, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH	Białystok