guitarist and composer; b. 6th January 1988. He studied guitar with Joanna Rudnicka at the Feliks Nowowiejski General Primary and Secondary Music School in Gdańsk. He received his BA in composition under the supervision of Andrzej Dziadek from the Academy of Music in Gdańsk and then graduated magna cum laude with an MA under the supervision of Paweł Łukaszewski from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He received his Postgraduate Diploma and PhD with honours from the FCMU supervised by Marian Borkowski.

He has developed his composing skills during master classes with Krzysztof Meyer, Hanna Kulenty, Krzesimir Dębski, Paweł Szymański, Dominik Karski, Marcin Zalewski, Paweł Steidl.

He has taken part and received awards in numerous composition and guitar competitions. He was a finalist of the Jean Sibelius Composition Comptetion, a winner of the 1st Composition Competition of the UMFC Academic Circle in Warsaw, the 3rd and 9th Zygmunt Mycielski Composition Competition, the Polish Institute in Vienna Composition Competition to celebrate its 40th anniversary, and the 55th Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers (1st prize). As a guitarist, he won 1st prizes at the 4th Polish National Guitar Competition in Kielce, 18th Polish National Guitar Competition in Konin, and 5th International Guitar Festival in Ełk. His piece Dance of Piano received a recommendation of the Polish division of International Society of Contemporary Music to be performed during the ISCM World Music Days in Beijing 2018.

He has given many solo performances in and outside of Poland, including in Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków, Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan (Italy) and during the 11th Festival de Musique Baroque d'Auvergne (France).

He composes instrumental, choral, and electro-acoustic music. His works were performed by many great soloists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras at numerous festivals, including the 55th "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, "Young Music Scene" in Toruń, 1st Gdańsk Music Impressions, 3rd Gdańsk Art of Interpreting 20th and 21st century Accordion Music Festival, New Accordion Conventions, Camp Meeting International Festival of Gospel Music, 9th Baltic Festival of Science. He has collaborated with Bożena Harasimowicz, Leszek Lorent, Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski, Paweł Zagańczyk, TWOgether Duo, Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemblage Chamber Orchestra, Progress Chamber Orchestra, as well as established jazz musicians such as Ignacy Jan Wiśniewski.

Kwapiński's several compositions were released on CDs: The Fickle Plans (polmic 088), Acoustic Spaces (polmic 137), On the other side of the mirror (DUX 1042), and published in print: The Piano Dance (Lisowice 2018), On the other side of the mirror (PWM, in preparation).

Paweł Kwapiński have taught in music schools in Warsaw and led music courses in Wisła. Between 2013 and 2016 he lectured at the Academy of Arts in Szczecin. He took part in many academic conferences, including "International Composers' Forum" in Bucharest and "Modernity in dialogue with tradition" at the FCUM in Warsaw. He also organised concerts of contemporary music, including in collaboration with the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union, of which he was a member of the board. 

Paweł Kwapiński is a member of the Polish Composers' Union and ZAiKS Authors' Association.

updated: 2020 (ac)

Bow for clarinet, violin, viola and cello (2008)

Three Parts for xylophone (2008)

Sounds for flute, clarinet and vibraphone (2009)

Meditations for cello, timpani, trombone, bass clarinet and percussion (2009)

Saint Francis Prayer for soprano and orchestra (2010)

Phantasmagoria for string orchestra (2010)

Duo for flute and violin (2011)

Dźwiękostan for multipercussion (2011)

Visions for brass quintet (2012)

Ad te levavi animam meam per coro misto a cappella  (2012)

Kawai Suite, computer composition for kawai digital piano (2012)

The Fickle Plans for orchestra (2012)

[***] for alto and piano to words by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer  (2012)

Acoustic Spaces for accordion and cello (2013)

Duo for electric guitar, accordion and computer (2013)

Muzyka żywego pejzażu for orchestra (2013)

Saxophone Quartet for alto saxophone, 2 tenor saxophones and baritone saxophone  (2014)

The Piano Dance for piano (2014)

Psalmus 103 per coro misto a cappella  (2015)

pentaDRAMa for symphony orchestra (2016)

Fantasia 1 per batteria, contrabbasso e pianoforte [from the cycle Fantasie] (2016)

Fantasia 2 per contrabbasso solo [from the cycle Fantasie] (2016)

On the Other Side of the Mirror for multipercussion (2017)

Espressioni di colore per violoncello solo (2018)

The Timbre Constellations for soprano saxophone, piano and accordion (2019)

Ballade pour le piano  (2020)

Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski, „The Piano Dance” Pawła Kwapińskiego: nowe drogi czy synteza muzyki fortepianowej?, „Aspekty Muzyki”, t. 8, Gdańsk 2018

Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski, Twórczość fortepianowa kompozytorów polskich w latach 2000- 2017 na przykładzie wybranych utworów, „Seminare”, t. 39 nr 1, Warszawa 2018

Maciej Lange, Sposób kształtowania sonorystyki w utworach na multiperkusję solo na przykładzie kompozycji Mariana Borkowskiego, Alicji Gronau i Pawła Kwapińskiego, dysertacja doktorska, Gdańsk 2019