People | Faculty | Marta Ptaszynska

Marta Ptaszynska

Appointment:

Helen B.& Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of Music and the Humanities

Education:

Composition studies under Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz and Music Theory, State Higher School of Music, Warsaw; Percussion Performance under Jerzy Zgodzinski, State Higher School of Music, Poznan, Poland

Contact:

Office: Goodspeed 206
Phone: (773) 702-8663
Email: mptaszyn@uchicago.edu
Websites: http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/
composer/ptaszynska.html; www.pwm.com.pl/ptaszynska; www.pwm.com.pl; www.presser.com/ptaszynska; www.polmic.pl

Marta Ptaszynska has been a professor of Music and in the Humanities at the University of Chicago since 1998.  In 2005 she was named the Helen B.& Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of Music and the Humanities. Ptaszynska is an internationally known composer. Her music has been performed around the world at many international festivals, including ISCM World Music Days, the Warsaw Autumn International Festivals, the Salzburg Festival, the Schleswig- Holstein Music Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Prix Futura in Berlin, and many others. She has received commissions from major orchestras and opera houses including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Opera in Poland. Her first opera Oscar of Alva in 6 scenes (1971-72, rev. 1986; libretto after Lord G. Byron) received the Award of the Polish Television Broadcasting Co. and was presented in 1989 at the Television Opera Festival in Salzburg, Austria. Her opera for children Mister Marimba (libretto: Agnieszka Osiecka) has enjoyed phenomenal success with 114 performances over eight seasons at the National Opera in Warsaw, which in 2008 premiered her second opera Magic Doremik (2006-2007; libretto after Gianni Rodari).

She is the composer of such well known works as the Holocaust Memorial Cantata, performed several times under the baton of Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Concerto for Marimba, Winter’s Tale,Sonnetsto Orpheus , Moon Flowers, Mosaics for string quartet ( 2002), Trois visions de l'arc-en-ciel for clarinet, violin, viola, cello, percussion & piano (2008), and Street Music for percussion orchestra of 70 players, (2008) as well as other popular compositions for solo percussion ( Siderals, Graffito, Spider Walk, Space Model, Letter to the Sun). 
Ptaszynska has been honored with many prizes and awards, including the 2006 Benjamin H. Danks Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Fromm Music Foundation Award, First Prize at the  International Rostrum of Composers in Paris, several awards from the Percussive Arts Society, multiple ASCAP Awards, and in 1995 the “Officer Cross of Merit” of the Republic of Poland.

Prior to coming to the University of Chicago, Ptaszynska taught composition at Northwestern University, Indiana University in Bloomington, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of California at Berkeley and at Santa Barbara, and Bennington College in Vermont.   
Her music is published by PWM – Polish Music Publications in Poland--and by Theodore Presser in the U.S.A. Recordings of her work are available on CD Accord-Universal, Muza Polish Records, Chandos, Olympia, Dux, Bayer Records, and Pro Viva Sonoton labels.

Recent Courses Taught

Composition ( all quarters)
Composition Seminar( all quarters),
Contemporary Opera,( Winter 2007),
18th Century Couterpoint,( Spring 2006),
Introduction to Composition,( Spring 2008),
Musical Language of Olivier Messiaen ( Winter 2006)

Selected Works

Hymn of the Universe for Choir & Organ, 2008    
Concerto for Flute, Harp & Orchestra, 2008
Lumen for Orchestra, 2007
Elegia in memoriam of John Paul II, for Viola, 2005
Pinophonia for Piano, 2004
Magic Doremic, opera in two acts, 2006-07
Mosaics for String Quartet, 2002
Drum of Orfeo, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, 2002
Letter to the Sun for Frame Drum, Narrator, and Percussion Quartet, 2000
Linear Constructions in Space for Percussion Sextet, 1997-98
Mister Marimba, opera in two acts for children, 1993-96
Concerto Grosso for Two Violins and Orchestra, 1996
Liquid Light for Mezzosoprano,Piano & Percussion, 1995    
Holocaust Memorial Cantata for 3 Soloists, Choir, and Orchestra, 1992
Grafitto for Marimba, 1988
Charlie’s Dream—Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, 1988
Moon Flowers for Cello and Piano, 1986
Concerto for Marimba & Orchestra, 1985
La novella d’inverno (Winter’s Tale) for Strings,1984
Die Sonette an Orpheus for Voice & Orchestra, 1980-81
Dream Lands, Magic Spaces for Violin, Piano, and Percussion,1978
Oscar of Alva, opera in 6 scenes, 1972, rev. 1986

For a list of recent and complete works see http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/ptaszynska.html