performers (S)

composer and cellist; b. 13th April 1984 in Warsaw. He studied composition with Chaya Czernowin and Detlev Müller-Siemens and cello with Valentin Erben and Stefan Kropfitsch at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Currently he lives and works in Vienna and Regensburg.

He received the scholarship of the Swiss-based Thyll-Dürr Foundation (2008/2009), the scholarship of the Austrian Czibulka Foundation (2009) and twice the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition (2010, 2014).

Tomasz Skweres won many composition competitions, including the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna in the string quartet category (2007), Franz Josef Reinl Foundation Composition Contest (2008), the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna in the string trio category (2009), the 2nd prize in the International Composition Competition of the German Hypertension League − Deutsche Hochdruckliga (2009), the Composition Competition of the Ernst Krenek Institut in Austria (2014), Premio speciale Piero Pezzé in the International Composition Competition "Città di Udine" (2016), the TONALi Composition Competition (2017), the 2nd prize in the 20th International Chopin & Friends Festival "New Vision" Composition Competition (2018), the 2nd prize in the Alexander Zemlinsky Composition Competition (2019), the 1st prize in the 1st Chalki International Composition Competiton (2020), the 1st prize in the Gilgamesh International Composition Competition (2021). He also received an honourable mention in the International Composition Competition "Città di Udine" (2014) and he was a finalist in the Talentenbörse Composition Competition organized by the Austrian Radio Ö1 (2012), Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition (2014), Thailand International Composers Competition (2015), and the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk International Composition Competition (2019). In 2009 he received the Theodor Körner Prize in the field of music composition.

His pieces have been commissioned by the "Warsaw Autumn" Festival, National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Musica Polonica Nova Festival, Leopoldinum Orchestra, New Music Orchestra, Apollon Musagete Quartet, Cantores Minores Wratislaviensis Chamber Choir (Poland), Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wien Modern Music Festival, Ensemble Wiener Collage, Ensemble Zeitfluss in Graz, Platypus Ensemble, Reconsil Ensemble (Austria), Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Niederbayerische Philharmonic Orchestra, Theater Regensburg, TONALi in Hamburg (Germany), Thyll-Dürr Foundation (Switzerland). His Concertino for string orchestra and MiniOpera were written as part of the "Collections – Composing Commissions" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Works by Tomasz Skweres are regularly performed at renowned festivals all over the world, such as "Warsaw Autumn", Musica Polonica Nova, LEO Festival (Poland), Wien Modern, Klangspuren Schwaz, Vienna Saxfest, Komponisten-Marathon, aNOtherfestival (Austria), Risuonanze, Contemporenea, Contrasti (Italy), Contrasts, Ukrainian Biennale for Contemporery Music, Kyiv Intarnational Contemporary Music Days (Ukraine), Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland, Goslar Harz (Germany), Festival Musica 2015 in Strasbourg (Francja), Biennale Bern (Switzerland), Meridian (Romania), ISCM World Music Days 2016/Tongyeong International Music Festival (South Korea), ISCM-Musicarama in Hong Kong (China), Bienal Música Hoje in Curiciba (Brasil), Distat Terra Festival in Choele Choel (Argentine).

His compositions are published by Doblinger in Vienna and Sikorski Music Publishers in Hamburg. His music has been broadcast on the Polish Radio Channel 2, BR Klassik (Bayerischer Rundfunk), NDR Klassik (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), Österreich 1 (Austria), Radio Stephansdom, RAI Südtirol (South Tyrol), ABC Classic (Australia) and released by such labels as Genuin, Col Legno and Orlando Records.

Tomasz Skweres is an active performer of contemporary music. Since 2012 he has been Principal Cellist in the Philharmonic Orchestra Regensburg in Germany. As a soloist, chamber musician and guest of such ensembles like Collegium Novum in Zurich, Austrian Ensemble for New Music in Salzburg, Ensemble Reconsil and Platypus Ensemble Vienna he performs modern music in renowned concert halls all over the world. He gives solo recitals with contemporary cello pieces. Many contemporary composers have written and dedicated solo pieces to him, including Mateusz Ryczek and Grzegorz Pieniek.

As a member of Hibiki String Quartet (with Xiaoming Wang – Concertmaster at the Opernhaus Zürich, Hibiki Oshima – Principal 2nd Violin at the Hamburg State Opera and Wei-Ya Lin – Viola) he has won prizes at chamber music competitions and participated in ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy).

In 2015 he was lecturer for cello at the HfKM Regensburg – College of Catholic Church Music & Musical Education in Regensburg and in 2016-2017 at the Musik University in Detmold (Hochschule für Musik Detmold).

updated: 2020 (ac), 2021 (wa)

Composer’s website: www.tomasz-skweres.com 

kompozycje