Eugeniusz Knapik

Eugeniusz Knapik studied at the Katowice State Higher School of Music (now Music Academy) in the class of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (composition) and Czesław Stańczyk (piano). In 1978 he received a state scholarship for a trip to Paris, and in the 1980s he worked at the Experimental Studio in Freiburg. His compositional debut took place on June 7, 1974 in the National Philharmonic, where works from the series La Flûte de Jade (1973) were heard. Soon after, a number of pieces by Knapik were presented at the Young Musicians of the Young City Festival in Stalowa Wola (1975–80), and now his works appear on the world’s leading stages. As a pianist, he performs solo and in ensembles, mainly with the twentieth century repertoire. He was the first to perform the entirety of Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus in Poland. In 1976, he started working at his alma mater, and in the years 2002–08, he held the post of its rector. He also organized the Studio of Electroacoustic Music at the Katowice Academy of Music. Knapik’s work is divided into two extensive phases, and the composer’s crucial turning point was a collaboration with Jean Fabre. The Flemish artist, hearing Knapik’s Islands in Australia, turned to the composer in 1987 with the proposal to create a monumental operatic cycle. And so, Knapik’s earlier work is filled with chamber and orchestral compositions with a compact structure, while the later works are dominated by large forms (mostly vocal- instrumental) and huge instrumentations.