Biography
Born in Czestochowa on September 19, 1968, Pawel Lukaszewski has shaped a modern extension of Eastern European holy minimalism, earning broad recognition for his choral output across Britain, the United States, and Poland. His father worked as a composer, and his brother Marcin Lukaszewski followed the same path. At the Academy of Music in Warsaw he pursued studies in both cello and composition, the latter under Martin Borkowski, while integrating arts management training into his curriculum and gaining practical experience as an impresario. He later obtained an arts management degree from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan and completed choral conducting studies at the choirmasters' school in Bydgoszcz.
Since 1996 he has instructed composition at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, advancing to associate professor in 2001, and in 2002 he took the helm of the Musica Sacra choir at Praga Cathedral. He has also held administrative posts with multiple festivals and composers' groups, including those devoted to styles distant from his own tonal language, and has received five Fryderyk awards from the Polish music industry. Beyond appearances at more than one hundred Polish festivals, his music has reached a substantial following in Britain. Early pieces incorporated tapes and computer synthesis, yet from the Two Lenten Motets onward, composed for unaccompanied choir in 1995, he turned increasingly toward sacred choral writing.
Although tonality appears in his scores, the music, according to Paul Wingfield, "is primarily founded on the non-functional progression between distantly connected triads and chords with added sixths, sevenths and/or ninths, in addition to more exotic sonorities constructed, for example, from pairs of interlocking perfect fifths. This 'extended' tonal sound world is enriched by highly selective use of vocal effects such as glissandi, parlando (speaking), and susurrando (whispering), all of which occur invariably in direct response to clear textual stimuli." In contrast to minimalist practice, Lukaszewski's works deliver precise, text-driven gestures. The Via Crucis for tenor, baritone, mixed choir, and orchestra received a performance from the British ensemble Polyphony led by Stephen Layton, while numerous shorter choral pieces have circulated internationally. A 2017 recording of his Motets by the Polski Chór Kameralny gathered several of his most compelling contributions to the genre.
Since 1996 he has instructed composition at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, advancing to associate professor in 2001, and in 2002 he took the helm of the Musica Sacra choir at Praga Cathedral. He has also held administrative posts with multiple festivals and composers' groups, including those devoted to styles distant from his own tonal language, and has received five Fryderyk awards from the Polish music industry. Beyond appearances at more than one hundred Polish festivals, his music has reached a substantial following in Britain. Early pieces incorporated tapes and computer synthesis, yet from the Two Lenten Motets onward, composed for unaccompanied choir in 1995, he turned increasingly toward sacred choral writing.
Although tonality appears in his scores, the music, according to Paul Wingfield, "is primarily founded on the non-functional progression between distantly connected triads and chords with added sixths, sevenths and/or ninths, in addition to more exotic sonorities constructed, for example, from pairs of interlocking perfect fifths. This 'extended' tonal sound world is enriched by highly selective use of vocal effects such as glissandi, parlando (speaking), and susurrando (whispering), all of which occur invariably in direct response to clear textual stimuli." In contrast to minimalist practice, Lukaszewski's works deliver precise, text-driven gestures. The Via Crucis for tenor, baritone, mixed choir, and orchestra received a performance from the British ensemble Polyphony led by Stephen Layton, while numerous shorter choral pieces have circulated internationally. A 2017 recording of his Motets by the Polski Chór Kameralny gathered several of his most compelling contributions to the genre.
Albums
