Monika Szpyrka was born in 1993. She graduated with a Bachelors in Music Theory and Masters in Composition from the Academy of Music in Kraków, where she studied in Anna Zawadzka-Gołosz’s class. She is currently a PhD student at her alma mater and is studying composition in Aarhus under Julian Hodkinson, Niels Rønsholdt, and Simon Steen-Andersen. She has also participated in workshops such as Donaueschinger Musiktage Next Generation and Synthetis. During the courses, she expanded her skills in individual lessons with Mark André, Richard Ayres, Mark Blaauw, Johannes Kreidler, Zygmunt Krauze, Bernhard Lang, Stefan Prins, Rebecca Saunders, Mark Stroppa, Kaija Saariaho, Jennifer Walshe, and Agata Zubel. Her compositions have also been performed at the Musica Electronica Nova festival, the Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn, and Ostrava New Music Days, as well as at the International Festival of Kraków Composers, Festival Aktuelle Musik in Nuremberg, and the International Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt. She has worked with bands such as E-MEX, Kompopolex, orkest de ereprijs, Ostravská Banda, W/L Duo, and Vocal Federation 6.
Monika Szpyrka’s recent creative path may resemble the paths of some of her peers: it began with pure modernism and a fascination with sound, then took a turn towards a new discipline, concepts, and relationships. However, a closer look will reveal an individual trait and a common element at both stages: silent dynamics, subtle changes (of timbre and articulation), noisy sounds (bug report), which together could be described as ‘microscopic’ sonorism. The effect requires precise amplification of the instruments, which thus create unprecedented, synthetic colours, in a narrative bordering on sleep (hypnagogic hallucinations). The sound system is also important in creating the spatiality of sound (rotacja pirochloru), which is sometimes so important that it even requires the form of an installation (rzeźba rewersyjna). In her matured style, Szpyrka does not give up this sonoristic attention but adds performative elements, such as the choreographic gestures of the drummers (collect. consume. repeat) or costumes put on or taken off on stage (Ready-to-Wear diptych). The latter works were inspired by the collection of fashion designer Rick Owens. Among the other stimuli of her work are chemical and physical processes, minimalist constructions by Yasuaki Onishiand Bernhard Lang’s loops and repetitions.