Jagoda Szmytka

A composer born in 1982, she originally hails from Legnica. Jagoda Szmytka developed her composing skills in Wrocław, Graz and Frankfurt am Mein, where she studied under the guidance of Krystian Kiełb, Cezary Duchnowski, Beato Furrer, Pierluigi Billone and Gerhard Müller-Hornbach. Since 2010 she has been working on her postgraduate degree in Karlsruhe, supervised by Wolfgang Rihm. She has participated in numerous master classes run, among others, by Helmut Lachenmann, Mark Andre, Georg Friedrich Haas and Tristan Murail. Before she moved on to composing, she studied art history and philosophy. The profound interest in humanities which she developed at the time formed the basis of her later musical pursuits. She has received scholarships from various foundations and institutions, including DAAD, Oscar und Vera Ritter Stiftung, Kuststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Hoepfner Stiftung (Wolfgang-Rihm-Stipendium), ÖAAD, the City of Wrocław and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2011 she received “The Staubach Honoraria” award, thanks to which the premiere of her new composition will take place during the Summer Courses in Darmstadt in 2012. Pieces by Szmytka have been performed during numerous events, such as the Warsaw Autumn, the KODY festival (Lublin), Musica Polonica Nova and Musica Electronica Nova (Wrocław), Acanthes (Metz), ENSEMS (Valencia), 44th International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Donaueschinger Musiktage (Off-Programm), Ohren auf Europa (Düsseldorf), Tokyo Experimental Festival, Audio Art (Krakow) and the International Rostrum for Electro-Acoustic Music (Lisbon). Jagoda Szmytka is a member of the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers’ Union. She lives and works in Karlsruhe.