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composer, b. 21st August 1933 in Muszyna; d. 13th April 2018 in Krakow. He studied conducting (1955-58), and composition with Stanisław Wiechowicz (1956-60) at the State Higher School of Music in Cracow. In 1959-61 he worked as an editor for the PWM Polish Music Publishers in Cracow, and in 1961-67 as a music presenter and editor in the Rzeszów Philharmonic. Since 1972 he has been on the faculty of the Music Academy in Cracow. In 1978-86 he was dean of the Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory. Since 1992 he has held the post of professor of composition in that academy.
Bujarski's compositions have been awarded in numerous competitions. In 1961 he received an honourable mention at the Young Composers' Competition of the Polish Composers' Union for Zones for symphony ensemble (1961), and in 1964 - 2nd prize in the Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition for Composers in Katowice for his Kinoth for chamber orchestra (1963). In 1967 his Contraria for symphony orchestra (1965) received an honourable mention, and in 1978 his Musica domestica for 18 string instruments (1977) was one of the recommended works at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.
Zbigniew Bujarski has twice been granted the Minister of Culture and Arts Award, Second Class (1979, 1987), as well as the Award of the Polish Composers' Union and the City of Cracow Award (1984). In 1991 he received the American Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award. In 2011 he was awarded the "Gloria Artis" Silver Medal for Merit to Culture by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

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Zbigniew Bujarski is a composer endowed with an extraordinarily subtle music sensitivity, which may be one of the reasons why he has dedicated so much attention to the composition of string quartets. The homogeneous sound of the four string instruments enhances compositional subtleties and allows for sublime sound effects. The intimate nature of the quartet form evokes an atmosphere of concentration, whereas the limited expressive means presented by the four instruments and the classical quartet form encourage composers to penetrate into the inside of sound and into the depth of formal structure. This seems to be Zbigniew Bujarski’s natural environment with respect to both form and sound. He wrote 4 string quartets with suggestive titles: For the Opening of the House (1980), For Advent (1984), For Easter (1989), For the Autumn (2001). In the context of the performance of that last quartet at the 2002 International Music Days of Cracow Composers, Bujarski commented:
“The Quartet for the Autumn is my fourth, and so far my last, string quartet, though I hope to write another - a Quartet for Christmas. Most probably, after the completion of a great symphonic work, time will come again - as it also happened many times before - for a return to greater intimacy, “privacy”, which I most willingly express through a small ensemble. The form of a string quartet is a kind of private letter that the composer writes to a specified addressee, and I also similarly perceive the quartet music written by other composers - as private correspondence in sounds between individual persons. This extremely personal music, as well as the high technical demands that the string quartet places on the composer, greatly appeal to me and I will remain faithful to it for as long as I live.”
The Quartet for the Autumn was written for the 80th birthday of Mieczysław Tomaszewski, to whom it is dedicated. It was first performed at the anniversary concert in the “Florianka” in Cracow on 17th November 2001 by the “Dafô” Quartet.

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