Piotr Kurek
A Warsaw-based musician and composer.
A Warsaw-based musician and composer.
Drawing on a diversity of approaches and influences, he creates hypnotic music centered on the human voice and occasionally composes for film and theatre. Known to work as a solo musician, but also as part of various collaborations, he has released music on Unsound, Edições CN, Mondoj, Hands In The Dark, Black Sweat Records, Dunno, Sangoplasmo and other labels.
Piotr Kurek has performed extensively, presenting his work at numerous music festivals like Unsound, CTM, OFF, TodaysArt and UH Fest, as well as participating in extensive tours in Poland and abroad. He is an alumni OneBeat by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation. In recent years, he was also invited to residencies at EMS in Stockholm, Sweden and Gyeonggi Creation Center in Ansan, South Korea.
He has scored both short and feature length films, including Sebastian Mihăilescu "Mammalia" (Berlinale 2023), Magnus von Horn’s “Sweat” (Cannes Official Selection 2020). He is a regular collaborator of an acclaimed Polish theatre director Grzegorz Jarzyna from TR Warszawa, as well as Tian Gebing from Beijing’s Paper Tiger Theatre Studio. Among his recent productions are Jarzyna’s "Solaris 4” which opened the New Stage of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, as well as Tian Gebing's "Heart Chamber Fragment" for Münchner Kammerspiele. Music from his various theatre productions was collected into a release titled “A Sacrifice Shall Be Made / All The Wicked Scenes” released by Warsaw imprint Mondoj in 2020.
releases:
"Greyhound Days" Patrick Shiroishi & Piotr Kurek LP/DL (Mondoj) 2025
"The night we slept under an overhanging cliff" DL (Longform Editions) 2024
"Smartwoods" LP/DL (Unsound) 2023
"Peach Blossom" LP/DL (Mondoj) 2023
"World Speaks" LP/DL (Edições CN) 2022
"A Sacrifice Shall Be Made/ All The Wicked Scenes" LP/DL (Mondoj) 2020
"Polygome" LP/DL (Hands In The Dark) 2019
"Edena" LP/DL (Black Sweat Records) 2013
film/theatre/other projects:
"Pierce" dir. Nelicia Low 2024 (Karlove Vary) 2024
"Mammalia" dir. Sebastian Mihăilescu (Berlinale Forum) 2023
"Sweat” dir. Magnus von Horn’s “Sweat” (Cannes Official Selection) 2020
selected features: The Wire, October 2023 reviews: Pitchfork, Spetember 2023/ The Quietus, September 2023/ Boomkat, September 2023/ The Wire, July 2023 / SoundOhm, March 2023/ Pitchfork, March 2023/ Boomkat, March 2023/ Boomkat, December 2022/ Cyclic Defrost, April 2022/ Pitchfork, March 2022/ The Quietus, February 2022/ Nowa Muzyka, February 2022/ Foxy Digitalis, February 2022/ The Vinyl Factory, February 2022/ The Quietus, January 2022/ Soundohm, January 2022/ Boomkat, January 2022/ TinyMixTapes, March 2019 interviews: Kraak Fest, March 2022/ Foxy Digitalis, February 2022/ Dwutygodnik, July 2020
How to detect ghosts performed by Apartment House with Barbara Kinga Majewska / Sacrum Profanum, November 2024 / photos by Katarzyna Kukiełka
Songs And Bodies / Unsound Festival, October 2024 / photos by Zuza Sosnkowska