A native of Kraków, she is currently a PhD student at the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (dxarts), University of Washington, Seattle, where she also works as an assistant. After her arrival at Seattle in 2001 and as a result of her present association with dxarts, her major artistic interest shifted towards experimental intermedia art. She has studied computer music with Richard Karpen and experimental video art with Shawn Brixey. She had earlier studied computer science at the Academy of Economics in Kraków (Master of Science, 2000) and currently also works as a computer programmer and web-designer. She received a traditional music background: in 1999 she graduated from the Academy Music in Kraków, where she studied composition with Bogusław Schaeffer. She was a co-founder of the Kraków-based ‘Apeiron’ Artistic Association and collaborated with the Animated Film Studio of the Fine Arts Academy in Kraków. Her works have been performed, recorded and broadcast in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United States.

Selected works: Hortus conclusus for two sopranos, string quartet and electronic media (music for the film A Portrait in the Interior by Robert Sowa, 1999), Aletheia for string orchestra (2000), Augenblick for two amplified pianos and symphonic wind ensemble (2001), Il Fonte Adamantino for string quartet and experimental vocal ensemble (1996–2002), Spinning Zone for percussion trio and computer-realized sounds (2002), Limbo (digital video, in collaboration with Adam McDaid, 2003), Chordochromies for harpsichord and computer-realized sounds (2003), Still Life (digital video, 2004), Curriculum Vitae (digital video, 2005), Minotaur for French horn and surround (2005), *** for wind ensemble (2005).

Minotaur, written for and dedicated to Josiah Boothby, is a journey through a mythical maze of sonic spaces, following a film-like scenario. It is also a part of my long-term project, exploring musical instruments in their original ‘natural’ environments, understood as both historical and artistic objects. It has been realized through a series of recording sessions, mostly in collaboration with a horn player Josiah Boothby, in a way similar to film production. The major part of the sound material was recorded in ambisonic technology (b-format, full surround), with Soundfield st-250 and Mark-v microphones and deva-4 Zaxcom – a multichannel digital audio recorder. A sequence of soundscapes has been created, processed and mastered in Super-Collider-3 – audio synthesis programming language.


Ewa Trębacz