Hanna Kulenty

Born in Bia1ystok, north-east Poland. In 1981­85 she studied composition with W1odzimierz KotoYski at the Warsaw Academy of Music and in 1986­88 under Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague. She participated in the Summer Courses in Darmstadt and in composers1 courses organised by the Polish Society for Contemporary Music. In 1990­91 she was a scholarship holder of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in Berlin. In 1985 she won Second Prize for her piece Ad unum at the European Young Composers1 Competition; in 1987 Second Prize for Ride at the Young Composers1 Competition of the Polish Composers1 Union, while in 1986­89 she received two first, a second and a third prize at various composers1 competitions of the Polish Composers1 Union ­ Warsaw Section. She is a winner of the WyspiaYski Award for Young Artists (1987). She has lectured at young composers1 courses in Apeldoorn (1995, 2001) and Radziejowice (1996, 2000), and was guest lecturer in Berlin (1989), Rotterdam (1989), Warsaw (1990), Arnhem (1990, 1992, 2002), York (1993), Odense (1994), Munich (1994, 1996, 2002), Amsterdam (1997), California (1998), Münster (1998), Budapest (2001), ¸óde (2002) and Amsterdam (2002). Her honours include Ocomposer-in-residence1 in 1999 in The Netherlands. In 2002 she was a member of the jury of the International Gaudeamus Music Week. In November 2000 Deutschlandfunk in Cologne organised
a concert devoted entirely to Kulenty1s music. It was recorded on the cd OArcs & Circles1. Since 1992 she lives in both Poland and Holland.
In 2003 her Trumpet Concerto gained the highest score at the unesco International Composers1 Rostrum in Vienna.

Selected works: String Quartet No. 1 (1984), Ad unum for orchestra (1985), Sesto for solo piano (1985), Parable on Grain, monodrama to a text by Sylvia Plath for alto, flute, violin, double bass, percussion and tape (1985), Quattro for chamber orchestra (1986), Arci for solo percussion (1986), Symphony No. 1 (1986), Quinto for two pianos (1986), Ride for six percussionists (1987), Symphony No. 2 for choir and orchestra (1987), Breathe for string orchestra (1987), Arcus for three percussionists (1988), Cannon for violin and piano (1988), aaa Tre for viola, cello and double bass (1988), One by One for marimba (1988), Perpetuus for chamber orchestra (1989), Trigon for chamber orchestra (1989), Piano Concerto No. 1 for piano and chamber orchestra (1990), String Quartet No. 2 (1990), Piano Concerto No. 2 for two pianos and orchestra (1991), Air for chamber orchestra (1991), E for E for solo harpsichord (1991), Violin Concerto No. 1 for violin with delay and chamber orchestra (1992), Passacaglia for chamber orchestra (1992), Cadenza for solo violin with delay (1992), Violin Concerto No. 1, version for violin with delay and symphony orchestra (1993), Still Life with Cello for solo cello (1993), Sinequan for solo cello (1993), A Cradle Song for violin, cello and piano (1993), Lysanxia for gamelan and tape (1993), Fourth Circle for cello (or violin or viola) and piano (1994), Sinequan Forte A for cello with delay and symphony orchestra (1994), Sinequan Forte B for cello with delay and chamber orchestra (1994), Fifth Circle for solo alto flute with delay (1994), Sixth Circle for trumpet and piano (1995), Going Up 1 for violin and double-bass (1995), Going Up 2 for chamber ensemble (1995), The Mother of the Black Winged Dreams, opera (1996), Violin Concerto No. 2 (1996), Third Circle for solo piano (1996), Sierra for violin and cello (1996), Blattinus for saxophone quartet (1996), Certus for chamber orchestra (1997), Elfen, ballet music for chamber orchestra (1997), Waiting for... for piano and voice (1997), Part One for symphony orchestra (first movement of the Third Symphony, 1997­98), Stretto for flute, clarinet, cello and guitar (1998), Rapidus for saxophone quartet (1998), Harmonium for harmonium solo (1999), mm-blues for two pianos and two percussions (1999), Decimo for choir, six voices (2002), Symphony No. 3 (2000), Drive Blues for piano (2000), Flute Concerto No. 1 (2001), Asjaawaa for mezzo-soprano, flute, harp, piano and electronics (2001), Crossing Lines for violin, clarinet, piano (2001), Trumpet Concerto (2002), Hoffmanniana, opera in two acts (2003), Piano Concerto No.3 (2003).

Trumpet Concerto was written in 2002 as a commission for Polish Radio 2 within the framework of a European Broadcasting Union project.
I wrote this piece with an awareness of my recent discovery of different time dimensions. I have employed it in a new technique which
I describe as the OPolyphony of Time Dimensions1 whereas my old technique was known as the OPolyphony of Arcs1. To make it sound simple: time in any dimension (time in a line, time in a square, time in
a cube etc.) goes in a circle! It certainly does not go in a line, that is why the name ­ Arc ­ is not valid anymore to me (an arc is in fact a line).
The piece has recognizable elements that are from the same basis but are played in different tempi. These tempi appear as a sort of perpetuum mobile, and therefore in the form of a circle. I combine the OPolyphony of Time Dimensions1 with another technique of mine, i.e. OEuropean Trance Music1 (the other technique with which
I have been busy for the past few years, trying to let time being experienced in a different way). A combination of these two techniques not only gives a strong form, but also tears the listeners inside the music, from whichever side you approach it.
Sometimes I am not afraid to use a traditional classical form, or rather classically-sounding elements, because the form itself is not determined by the sounds of the elements alone, but also by the manner in which you put them together.
That is why in this particular composition I was very much inspired by the music from the Balkans. In addition to the exploration of my techniques, I wanted to have pure joy in writing it.
When I received the commission from Polish Radio, I wanted to write a Trumpet Concerto, with the Dutch trumpet player Marco Blaauw in mind. He previously played my piece Sixth Circle and I was very enthusiastic about his skills and his amazing red quarter-tone instrument.
Hanna Kulenty

Elfen
was commissioned as a piece for ballet in 1997. It was premiered by the Dutch ensemble De Ereprijs at the Arnhem Theatre in May 1998 for the 40th anniversary of the Academy of Dance (choreography by Isabelle van Grimde). The work can also be performed as a stand-alone piece.
Elfen is written in a technique described by the composer as Otrance music1. This is what she wrote about it:
OTrance music1 is a continuation of my previous technique Opolyphony of arcs1. When one wishes, for example, to arrive at various temporal segments, various realities within time itself, then one has to repeat something. The music of ancient cultures, such as Indian or African music, also contains these repetitive elements. My intention is to achieve a form of European trance music. Take Thomas Mann1s The Magic Mountain. It begins with a description of each hour, each minute and one reads incredibly thoroughly, really thoroughly. Later on in the book, one week is a page, one month is a page, one year is
a page. Things progress faster and faster. But once one has survived the beginning, which for some people is very tedious, then one is truly entranced. At least I was. I want to achieve the same with the music. At the outset, I want to prepare our body to experience another time dimension. For that reason I have to repeat elements but in the beginning not so much. First I repeat a little, then a little more, but still within limits. One has to listen and listen. It must be interesting. One must follow the music.
Hanna Kulenty