Biography

Andrzej Karałow, b. 1991 is a young Polish pianist, composer and improviser. He is currently at doctoral studies on composition and assistant lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He is a laureate of many national and international piano competitions, e.g. Milosz Magin Competition in Paris, Konzerteum in Athens, or Frederic Chopin National Competition in Warsaw. He performed in prestigious concert halls in the country and abroad, also with accompaniment of renowned orchestras, under the baton of Ewa Strusińska, Maciej Niesiołowski and Jakub Chrenowicz. Equally successful as a composer, he is a prize winner of, among others, the 2nd Karol Szymanowski International Composition Competition in Katowice, or Opera Compostion Competition in Miskolc, Hungary, where he was praised for his professionalism, imagination and artistic sensibility. His latest release “Wir” (The Vortex) published by Requiem Records is his first album which consists of free-improvised electroacoustic works performed together with established on international scene music producer Jerzy Przeździecki. Although classical music is the main field of his activity, he is also open to experiments in electronic and alternative genre, combining techniques and inspirations from various fields of art into his own, unique musical language.

Composer website:  http://www.andrzejkaralow.pl/

Featured Works

Andrezj is the guest curator of the special edition playlist Polish Waves (August 2018).

Fading towards the Sun, for piano and electronics.

Fading Towards the Sun is an early attempt to explore the context of electroacoustic solo improvisation. The piece is constructed on evolving sound textures based on samples of which order was planned in pre-compositional sketches. The piano and synthesizer part is freely improvised; both electronics and acoustic layers shape a sound landscape which evolves into a climax of overlaying parameters. The main idea of a piece was to free the performer from the bounds of a conventionally written score and to settle composition into a sample-based structure. The title is connected to the constant evolution of sound textures forming a unique colouristic landscape.

Featured in Polish Waves (Special Edition August 2018)