Biography
Canadian-Polish composer, researcher and multimedia performer Piotr Grella-Możejko holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta and an M.Mus. in Composition from the same university, where he studied with Alfred Fisher, Henry Klumpenhouwer and the late Christopher Lewis. He also studied composition privately with the late Prof. Edward Bogusławski and Prof. Bogusław Schaeffer. In 1994, Grella-Możejko was the only Canadian selected to participate in the prestigious “June in Buffalo” Festival and Conference, where he attended lectures by and master classes with Milton Babbitt, Donald Erb, David Felder, Lukas Foss, Roger Reynolds, and Charles Wuorinen.
Described by the German press as demonstrating “uncompromising honesty” («Neue Zeitschrift für Musik»), praised for his unorthodox aesthetics («Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung»), and whose work is called “brawny, high-contrast… full of rich counterpoint and compelling textural changes” («The New York Times»), “strikingly individual” («The Toronto Star»), and “wonderful-sounding” («The Buffalo News»), Grella-Możejko has written on commissions from, among others, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Polish Congress, Edmonton Arts Council/Clifford E. Lee Fund, International Conversatorium of Organ Music, Polish Ministry of Culture and Art, as well as Polish Radio, Canadian Music Centre, and The Flanders Festival.
Presented in thirty-six countries in centres such as Antwerp, Athens, Bangkok, Basel, Berlin, Bilbao, Dublin, Geneva, Gdańsk, Kassel, Kaunas, Kraków, Kunming, Lausanne, Liuzhou, Ljubljana, London, Los Angeles, Łódź, Mexico City, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Princeton, St. Petersburg, Seoul, Sydney, Tallinn, Toronto, Turin, Utrecht, Vancouver, Vienna, Warsaw, Wrocław and Zurich, Grella-Możejko’s music has been commissioned, played and recorded by symphony and chamber orchestras in Canada and abroad (Edmonton, Halifax, Kraków, Kyiv, Regina, Scarborough, Szczecin, Vancouver, Wroclaw and Warsaw, among others) as well as by such outstanding performers as the Aventa Ensemble, Ensemble Mujirushi, Hermes Ensemble, Motion Ensemble, the Bozzini, Penderecki, Reiner and Szymanowski String Quartets, Anubis Saxophone Quartet, Quatuor de saxophones QUASAR, Duo Dilemme, Duo Levent, Duo Majoya, Duo Montagnard, Duo ST15, Atma Trio, The Warszynski Trio, The Hammerhead Consort, Aeolos and Mexico City Woodwinds Quintets, pianists Kasia Marzec-Salwinski, Viktoria Reiswich-Dapp, Sylvia Shadick-Taylor, Kathleen Supové, Gabriela Szendzielorz, Roger Admiral, Jens Barnieck, Andrzej Jungiewicz, Joachim Segger, Daan Vandewalle; flautists Karin Aurell, Penelope Clarke, Iwona Glinka, Agnieszka Kacma, Isabelle Schnöller, Mark Takeshi McGregor; oboist Mariusz Pędziałek, clarinettists Jean-Guy Boisvert, Szymon Kaca and Harry Sparnaaij; a host of leading saxophonists including Allison Balcetis, Kristine Gray, Laurent Estoppey, Charles Stolte, William H Street, Andreas van Zoelen; bassoonist Donald DaGrade, violinists Alissa Cheung, Elena Denisova, Tatiana Warszynski, violist Christine Vlajk, ‘cellists Evva Mizerska and Michal Schmidt, and many others.