Katarzyna Głowicka is a Polish contemporary composer. Born in 1977 in Oleśnica, she graduated from the Academy of Music in Wrocław, where she studied composing under Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil. After graduation, Głowicka continued her study abroad, completing an internship in Strasbourg under Ivan Fedele, a post-graduate programme in the Hague under Louis Andriessen, and a PhD in Belfast’s Sonic Arts Research Centre in 2008. She currently teaches computer music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Głowicka has received numerous scholarships (e.g. from DAAD, the Polish culture ministry, the governments of Britain, the Netherlands and France). Her pieces have been performed by world-renowned ensembles (ensemble recherche, De Ereprijs, Holland Symfonia). She wrote Microgalaxies on a commission form the Modern Festival in Vienna; her other works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, the Warsaw Autumn festival, De Suite in Ijsbreker, or the Gaudeamus Music Week.
In her work, Katarzyna Głowicka focuses on acoustic repetition, and piano and vocal music enhanced with electronics. She draws inspiration from film and theatre, which have led her to compose The King’s Gravedigger (2002/2006), an opera inspired by Andrei Tarkovski’s film Quasi Rublev (2006/09), for harpsichord and electronics, with visual effects designed by Mathis Nitschke, or the opera The Container (2010), drawing on Lukas Moodyson’s film under the same title.
She has been living in the Netherlands since 2003. Together with her husband, composer Henry Vega and visual artist, Emmanuel Flores she runs the ARTEk Foundation in the Hague.
