Krzysztof Meyer - Biography

Biography

Meyer was born in Kraków. As a boy he played piano and organ. He began his composition study early – in 1954, with Stanisław Wiechowicz. Then, at the State College of Music in Kraków he continued studying with Wiechowicz, and when the latter died in 1964, he did his diploma with Krzysztof Penderecki (1965). He also studied music theory (diploma in 1966). In Paris he took courses with Nadia Boulanger (1964, 1966, and 1968), and in Warsaw he became a private pupil of Witold Lutosławski.

His Symphony No. 1 became his first work to get a performance, introduced in Kraków in 1964. In 1965, while still a student, he made his debut at the "Warsaw Autumn", as the youngest composer in the festival’s history (String Quartet No. 1). He was fascinated with avant-garde not only as a composer: from 1965 to 1967, as a member of "MW2 Ensemble", he performed experimental pieces, typical for the sixties, in Poland and in some West European countries. Later he continued to be active as a pianist, performing mostly his own works, or playing chamber music.

From 1966 to 1987 Meyer taught theory at the State College of Music (now Academy of Music in Kraków), holding the chairmanship of the Department of Music Theory from 1972 to 1975. From 1987 to 2008 he was professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He has written biographies of Dmitri Shostakovich and Witold Lutosławski.

Between the years 1985 and 1989 he was the president of the Union of Polish Composers. For fourteen years (1974 – 1988) he took part in the work of the Repertory Committee of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music. Fellow of Collegium Invisibile.