Sławomir Kupczak is a Polish contemporary composer, born in 1979 in Wrocław. He studied composing under Jan Wichrowski as well as computer composing with Cezary Duchnowski and Stanisław Krupowicz at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. Kupczak’s and Duchnowski’s professional paths crossed once again later, when they formed the improvised music trio Phonos ek Mechanes together with another Wrocław-based contemporary music composer. In 2012 Kupczak debuted at the Musica Polonica Nova festival. While still a student and later, after graduation, he took part in numerous workshops and master classes led by Hanna Kulenta, Marta Ptaszyńska, Elżbieta Sikora, Witold Szalonek, Zygmunt Krauze, Louis Andriessen, Anders Brødsgaard, Nicholas Cleobury, Dominik Muldowney, Philip Wilby, and Roderick Watkins. The artist has also participated in a range of composing classes in Poland and abroad (the UK). He has been awarded scholarships from the Polish ministry of culture, Friends of the Warsaw Autumn Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, ZAIKS collective rights management organisation, and the council of the city of Wrocław.
From 2000 to 2002 Sławomir Kupczak was a member of Tech-no Orchestra, a string ensemble led by Robert Kurdybacha, and later, from 2002 to 2004 he collaborated with Wrocław’s ZAR theatre, affiliated with the Grotowski Centre, now the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław. His work Anaphora VI won the fourth prize at the 53th International Rostrum of Composers in Paris, and the second prize at the 48th Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers in Warsaw. His pieces have been released by Bôłt Records.
Sławomir Kupczak is a member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the the Polish Society for Electroacoustic Music. He is also a devoted pedagogue, teaching post-primary students (Stanisław Moniuszko School of Music in Jelenia Góra), as well as undergraduates (Academy of Music in Wrocław). Commissioned by festivals, music institutions and competitions, he creates chamber, symphony, and electroacoustic pieces, as well as writing scores for the theatre and cinema. In October 2014 his Symphony No. 2 for 100 Motorcycles will be premiered during the World Music Days in Wrocław.
