persons' index (Z)

composer, sound artist, improviser (piano, drums, electronics); b. 1st November 1975 in Kielce. He studied the piano with Jolanta Płoska at the Secondary Music School in Kielce. Apart from playing the piano, he was associated with the contemporary jazz and rock scene. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Poznań in choral conducting under Janusz Dzięcioł (1999) and composition under Lidia Zielińska (2010). In 2012 he received the doctor of musical arts degree in composition from the Academy of Music in Kraków. In 2018 he received the habilitation degree. Currently, he is an associate professor at the Academy of Music in Poznań.

He has participated in numerous master classes, including with Jan A.P. Kaczmarek at the Rozbitek Institute (2006), Karlheinz Stockhausen in Kurten (2008), Tristan Murail, Beat Furrer and IRCAM lecturers in the field of electronic music and Max / MSP programming as part of the Acanthes workshops at the Center Pompidou – Metz (2010), Pauline Oliveiros and Catherine C. Hannix at the STEIM in Amsterdam (2012) and Zbigniew Karkowski at the SME Academy of Music in Poznań (2012).

After a summer visit in Chicago in 1997, he became interested in contemporary improvised music, both acoustic and electronic, free jazz, a multicultural mixture of various elements of urban music. These fascination led to the foundation of a group called L.E.M. (Live Electronic Music) together with trumpeter Tomek Ziętek and bassist Wojtek Mazolewski. The band has contributed to the creation of the Polish improvised electronics scene. As a drummer, Zapała is fascinated by the richness of African, Latin and Asian rhythms. In the years 1998-2000 he performed as a session drummer in many projects. At the same time, he became interested in electronic music: from club music (Viksa Kovač live act, Loco Star, remix of Dig and Din by Andrzej Smolik, Drum Machina) to experimental sound art projects related to the activities of the Electroacoustic Music Studio in Poznań. He is the founder of the an_ARCHE NewMusic Ensemble and Foundation and the Kołorking Muzyczny ensemble, performing contemporary composed, improvised, electronic and experimental music.

His compositions have been presented at such international festivals of new music as the "Warsaw Autumn" – concerts of the Youth Circle, "Sound screen", "Poznań Music Spring", "Contem.Ucha", Susaa Festival in Denmark, Made in Chicago Festival, Ale Kino!, and EmuFest 2012 in Rome. Since 2004 he has been collaborating with the Animation Theatre in Poznań, "Scena na Piętrze" Theatre in Poznań as well as the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (a theater performance staged at the FAMA Academic Youth Arts Festival in 2004). He composed music for theater performances (with director Jan J. Moszkowicz), ballet performances, film music (including Testimony, directed by Paweł Pitera), soundtracks for documentary programmes and commercials. He also participated in Roger Waters and Ray Wilson projects (Genesis).

In the first half of 2014, he conducted research at the CCRMA at Stanford University, concerning the use of biofeedback technology in music installations. He was an artist-in-residence at the "Zamek" Culture Centre in Poznań (2014), the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce (2014/2015), ZK / U Berlin (2016) and Vertigo STARTS (2019). His original concept of Live Electronic Preparation (LEP Technique) was published in the Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio (Oxford University Press 2014). A special place in his work is occupied by actions and sound installations embedded in the urban space, including Sensorium – huge, immersive sound installation based on biofeedback data sonification in the Clock Tower of the "Zamek" Culture Centre in Poznań (www.sensorium.poznan.pl) and Post- Apocalypsis – awarded the Gold Medal at the 13th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in the Sound Design cathegory in 2015.

Apart from his artistic activity, Zapała also creates the so-called applied arts. He collaborates with artists (project i s o | a t i o n with Kobas Laksa) and fashion designers. For three years he was the music director of the "Art & Fashion" festival in Stary Browar in Poznań.

updated: 2020 (ac)

Composer's website: www.zapala.com.pl

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