Piotr Sleczek - composer

Piotr Sleczek is a composer, conductor, and violinist. His work has been performed by leading soloists, music ensembles, and conductors, such as the Polish Radio Choir, the Silesian Philharmonic Choir, the LutosAir Quintet, Bartlomiej Dus, Maciej Grzybowski, and Agata Zubel.

His music has been performed multiple times by the renowned Silesian Philharmonic Choir, which premiered such pieces as Stream (2009) for mixed choir a cappella, Dream of the Rood (2011) for mixed choir a cappella (16 voices), De Profundis (2013) for soprano solo and mixed choir, and O Wolnosc (2015).

Since his well-received debut with the composition Microfluctus (2009) for soprano saxophone solo and string orchestra premiered by Bartlomiej Dus and Sinfonietta Sonora, he looks for new methods of expression in music. Piotr has taken part in many composition courses, including the International Composition Courses in Darmstadt (auditor) and American Choral Directors Association Conference.

His music has been performed at numerous music festivals, including the 1st Henryk Mikołaj Górecki International Contemporary Music Festival 2011, Cracovia Sacra 2012, the 4th Henryk Mikołaj Górecki International Contemporary Music Festival 2014, and the Muzyka Polska za Mało Znana Festival 2018, organized by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

Sleczek's compositions have been directed by renowned conductors such as Jaroslaw Wolanin (Silesian Philharmonic Choir), Andreas Herrmann (Munich Philharmonic Choir), and Jeremy Jackman, formerly a counter-tenor of the King's Singers and Chorus Master to the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and the London Philharmonic Choir, to mention a few. 

In 2014, Piotr's work That is the Question opened the 4th International Contemporary Music Festival of H.M.Górecki in Krakow, Poland. It was premiered by renowned duet Agata Zubel and Maciej Grzybowski. The piece was written to Hamlet's famous speech discussing the moral legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful world.  

At the 5th edition of the festival, together with the lauded LutosAir Quintet, Piotr Sleczek premiered his work, A Song of the New Order, for woodwind and tape. The concert of this experimental piece that relates to the sonoristic works of the 20th century took place at the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology on October 24th, 2015. 

He has composed music for T.V. and film, including I love you so much, directed by Maciej Bochniak and Mr. Sandman, directed by Joanna Pawluskiewicz and Marzena Poplawska where among many, Jan Pilch, a leading Polish percussionist, recorded Sleczek's music. 

Piotr Sleczek was born in Krakow, Poland, where he began his music education at the age of 7. He received his music degree from the Frederic Chopin Music High School in Krakow in the class of Prof. Halina Podgorska-Dutka. He graduated with a B.A. and M.A. from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, in the violin class of Prof. Dr. Ryszard Fastnacht and Dr. Adam Mokrus, where he took courses with Prof. Dr. Eugeniusz Knapik, Dr. Jarosław Mamczarski and Dr. Jarosław Chełmeck.

In addition, he graduated with a B.A. in British literature from Marie - Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland.

As a violinist, he has performed in Poland, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, and Holland. In addition, Piotr has written articles on music for American publications.

artist statement

I see music as an expression of thankfulness and power. In its essence, it is an interdisciplinary way of communication, where structure and compositional techniques are used without a limitation to a historical period, interweaving their esthetic coloration within a given register.

Music as an abstract means to express the empty nature of sound is to be, in its playful nature, experienced free of any preconceptions. My motivation in the creative process is to bring the listener closer to the oneness of all phenomena, where the listener, music and the act of listening is experienced as a totality.

From the openness to space and its potential, music is utilized to elicit a taste of emptiness, that is to enable the listener to recognize and later identify with one's natural blissful state of mind, beyond all thoughts, feelings, and phenomena.