“The protagonist of the opera is listening itself.”

WOJTEK BLECHARZ, COMPOSER

Born in Gdynia (Poland) in 1981, in 2006 he graduated with honors from Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw (Master of Arts), in 2015 received a Ph. D. in music composition at University of California San Diego, living in Berlin since 2015. Between 2012-2019 Blecharz had been curating the Instalakcje music festival at Warsaw’s Nowy Theater, featuring non-concert music: sound installations, performance installations, sound sculptures, music videos, music theater and others. Blecharz has directed his three of his opera-installations: Transcryptum (2013) commissioned by Grand Theater National Opera in Warsaw; Park-Opera (2016) commissioned by Theater Powszechny in Warsaw and Body-Opera commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2016). In 2018 composed opera FIASKO, commissioned by Staatstheater Darmstadt; in 2019 Rechnitz.Opera for 6 actors and 4 cellos, based on Elfriede Jelinek’s text, commissioned by Warsaw Autumn Festival and TR Warszawa. Currently working on his 3rd Symphony for 200 wireless speakers commissioned by Donaueschingen Musiktage and Concerto for Piano and Wireless Speakers that will be premiered at the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt.

Blecharz’s music often redefines the traditional concert format and proposes different relations between the listener/viewer and the sound. His music involves site specific projects, participatory audience, elements of music and instrumental theater as well as immersion and embodiment of sound.  His performative-music installations and music theater pieces include: Soundwork for 8 actors (commissioned by TR Warszawa, 2016); House of Sound for 40 instruments and participatory audience (commissioned by Słowacki Theater, Cracow, 2017); Manifesto for orchestra (for any type of instruments and participatory audience, commissioned by Eklekto, Geneva, 2019); Black Square. Sonata for Keyboard and Tape – a durational-drone installation for 4 performers (commissioned by Teraz Poliż, Warsaw, 2018/20); a cycle of 8 Fields for various instrumental (spatial) set-ups; Symphony No.1 for orchestra in 4 groups and moving audience (commissioned by Szczecin Philharmonics, 2019), Symphony No.2 for orchestra open to any type of musician (commissioned by Theater &TD, Zagreb, 2019), Symphony No.3 for 200 wireless speakers (commissioned by Donaueschinger MusikTage 2021/23). In 2020 Blecharz was invited by Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in Warsaw to create a performative installation for the Museum’s community choir (Mantra for Muranów), also in 2020 a retrospective with Blecharz’s works took place during New Empathies Festival at Radial System, Berlin. In 2022 Blecharz was working on two large-scale, collaborative music installations: Queer Magick Intervention (created together with Vala T. Foltyn) for the Former nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg (commissioned by Musik Installationen, Nuremberg) and Treehumana for voices and Paetzold recorders, co-created with Matthias Schoenijahn and Paulina Miu Kühling).

Blecharz composed pieces for Kwadrofonik Ensemble (Warsaw), Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra (Beijing), Klangforum Wien (Vienna), Royal String Quartet (Warsaw), Aviva Endean (Melbourne), Jenn Torrence (Oslo), Ryan Muncy (New York), Rupert Enticknap (Berlin), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Musiques Nouvelles (Brussels), Collegium Novum Zurich, KNM Ensemble (Berlin), Asian Art Ensemble (Berlin), Staatstheater Darmstadt, TR Warszawa, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Szczecin Philharmonics, Roskilde Festival, Eklekto (Geneva), &TD Theater (Zagreb), JEMP Festival/Arts Territory (London), Radialsystem (Berlin), Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN (Warsaw), ensemble mosaik (Berlin), Hashtag Ensemble (Warsaw), Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble (Cracow), Jewish Culture Festival (Cracow), Disappearing Berlin-Schinkel Pavillon, The National Orchestra of Polish Radio (Katowice) and others.

Recently his works were performed at Warsaw Autumn Festival, Maerz Musik, Salzburg Biennale, Museum of Modern Art in Tel Aviv, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (Australia), MATA Festival (New York), Mostly Mozart Festival (New York), Klangwerkstadt (Berlin), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), Rainy Days (Luxembourg), Time of Music (Viitasaari, Finland), ImpulsTanz (Vienna), Sacrum Profanum (Cracow), Festival of the Premiers (Katowice, Poland) and others. Blecharz collaborates with various curatorial teams such as Arts Territory (London), Tokarnia (Szczecin), Pracownia Kuratorska (Cracow), Curatorial Collective for Public Arts (Berlin) and others.

Since 2012 Blecharz is collaborating with sculptor Ewa-Maria Śmigielska, who created stage sets for his opera-installations: Transcryptum and Body-Opera, while Blecharz created music for Śmigielska’s large scale installations such as: “Wobec” (2018, Nowy Theater), “Follow the Dragon” (2021, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsko) and “Phoenix Mantra” (2022, Inne Towarzystwo Gallery, Warsaw).

Blecharz composed music to various dance and theater performances and worked with the following choreographers and directors: Jacek Łumiński, Marta Górnicka, Katarzyna Kalwat, Karol Tymiński, Wojciech Grudziński, Magda Szpecht, Marta Ziółek, Natalia Korczakowska, Matthias Schoenijahn, Thea Reifler, Phila Bergmann, Gosia Wdowik, Luk Perceval, Transformella Cinis, Przemek Kamiński, Angelo Petracca and others.