Adrian Robak

Adrian Robak (born August 7, 1979 in Bytom) – Polish musician and composer.
==Education==
Adrian Robak studied composition in the class of Professor Aleksander Lasoń at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, from which he graduated in 2008 (diploma with distinction). Adrian Robak also studied Music Theory there. In 2015, he received a doctorate in art. in composition and music theory under the supervision of Professor Eugeniusz Knapik.
==Professional and teaching work==
Adrian Robak is a lecturer at the University of Silesia, especially in the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School (formerly the Faculty of Radio and Television), including Film Music, Knowledge of Music, Sound in Audiovisual Works, Sound Production, and previously Propaedeutics of Culture and Art) and Faculty of Art and Educational Science (including Music Arrangement, Ear Training, and Musical Forms).
Since 2021, Adrian Robak has been employed as a professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Since March 2022, he has been the vice dean for Internationalization and Organization, and from May 2022 to March 2023, he was the vice dean for Education and Students at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School of the University of Silesia in Katowice.
He has collaborated with outstanding musicians and ensembles on the Polish stage (e.g., the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice) and the European stage (e.g., Wiener Symphoniker). He has given concerts in the most important concert halls in Poland (e.g., the National Philharmonic in Warsaw) and around the world (e.g., Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Lincoln Center – New York Philharmonic in the USA, Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, Canterbury Cathedral in Great Britain).
In 2007–2009, Adrian Robak worked as an accompanist and singer, eventually becoming assistant director in the Katowice City Singers' Ensemble "Camerata Silesia.".
From 2009 to 2016, he worked as a lecturer at the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia, teaching Voice Production. From 2010 to 2020, he was a lecturer at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, conducting Propaedeutics of Contemporary Music, Aesthetics of Music, and Ear Training.
In secondary education, in the years 2015–2018, he taught classes at the Ludomir Różycki State School of Music of the 1st and 2nd degree in Gliwice (Harmony, Ear training, Principles of music and Musical Memory Training) and in the years 2016–2021 he taught classes at the Piotr Latoska School Complex No. 4 in Ruda Slaska in the field of recording and sound reinforcement techniques (Principles of acoustics and electroacoustics, Sound production workshop, instrumentology, Ear training, Principles of music and History of music with musical literature).
Adrian Robak is an organizer of concerts and leads a lively cultural life (he organized, among others, Concerts for the Residents of Katowice, Concerts in the Concert Hall of the Music Education Center in Katowice, Concert in the Oratorium Marianum in Wrocław, Concerts at the Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki Festival in Bytom, Concert honoring the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the KL Auschwitz concentration camp and several concerts of the Katowice branch of the Polish Composers' Union).
In 2010, Adrian Robak was awarded first place in the EU project "Silesian Manufactories of Cultural Industries" qualifications organized by the Regional Chamber of Commerce and GWSP. He also completed several group and individual training courses in economics, marketing, law, and accounting. In 2010, Adrian Robak represented the creative circles of composers in discussion panels at the "Silesian Province Culture Congress" and at the 14th Silesian Forum of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises "Event Management in Culture and Entertainment in the Silesian Province."
==Awards and scholarships==
During his studies, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage twice awarded him a scholarship for outstanding academic results.
In 2011, Adrian Robak received the 2nd prize for the composition "Silesia 1921" for symphony orchestra and choir at the National Composition Competition for the 90th anniversary of the Third Silesian Uprising organized by the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship and the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice. The same year, he was a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in Music and Dance.
In 2013, he received the main prize (2nd prize; the first prize was not awarded) for the composition Pastelux in 3 parts for solo guitar at the 7th National Composition Competition for classical guitar organized by the Municipal Cultural Centre in Żory, the Silesian Association of Classical Guitar Enthusiasts SILESIANA and the MODRAN Artistic Agency.
In 2014, Adrian Robak received a commission from the Institute of Music and Dance to compose the composition "Semi Semi" for two choirs and string orchestra, and in 2015, the composition "Psalm" for saxophone and mixed choir ("Sacral Diptych").
In 2023, his album "Réflexions" was nominated for the most prestigious award of the phonographic industry in Poland, the "Fryderyk 2023" award in the Album of the Year Contemporary Music category..
==Music==
Adrian Robak is a composer of orchestral, chamber, and choral pieces. He also composes music for films ("Day of my life," "Klisze pamięci Mariana Kołodzieja," "Misja Wolnego"). His compositions have been performed at festivals both in Poland (e.g., "Mikołowskie Dni Muzyki" in Mikołów) and abroad (e.g., King's College Chapel in Aberdeen in UK, "Incontro Internazionale Polifonico Citta di Fano" in Italy). The beginnings of his compositional activity were focused on choral compositions, which constitute almost half of the over 50 compositions he has created. Among his symphonic compositions, the most important are: "Silesia 1921" (a composition awarded at a composition competition), "This is not a Country of Heroes," and, above all, "Gardens" in four movements for symphony orchestra.
Adrian Robak has a neat collection of arrangements and transcriptions to his credit. His arrangements were performed, among others, at the Grand Theatre in Poznań, and among the listeners was, among others, director David Lynch (this was on the occasion of the exhibition-happening entitled "Hotel Landszaft"). Adrian Robak also authorizes the plaque "Silesian School of Composers of the 20th and 21st centuries" (hung on the Karol Szymanowski National Complex of the Music Schools in Katowice).
==Record labels==
===2024===
Hollywood Music Odyssey vol. 1
Gratitude and Harmony of the Universe
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere
===2021/2022===
Réflexions, Krzysztof Firlus - viola da gamba, pardessus de viole, double bas, Anna Firlus - harpsichord, pipe organ.
(the album was nominated for the most prestigious award of the phonographic industry in Poland, the "Fryderyk 2023" award in the Album of the Year Contemporary Music category)
===2020/2021===
Made in Poland, Walicki-Popiołek Duo (the Album includes a three-part composition, "Bies for guitar and piano").
===2019===
Pastelux, Marcin Maślak – guitar (the Album features two compositions: the three-part "Pastelux" and the three-part "Ssonnattuss")).
==Associations==
Adrian Robak is a member of the Związek Kompozytorów Polskich (ZKP, in the years 2012–2018 in the board structures of the Silesian branch) and the Society of Authors ZAiKS (ZAiKS).
==List of the compositions==
===1999===
* Alleluia for mixed choir a cappella (1999)
===2001===
* да приидет царстие Твое... Отче наш (...da prjidiet carstwie Twoje... Otcze Nasz) for mixed choir a cappella (2001)
===2002===
* Днесь спасние (Dnjes spasjenije) for mixed choir a cappella (2002)
* Cвятый Вожэ (Sviatyj Boże) for mixed choir a cappella (2002)
* Sancta Maria Mater Dei for mixed choir a cappella (2002)
===2003===
* Variations for pipe organ solo (2003)
* Jonah for mixed choir a cappella (2003)
* Ad Papam for tenor, barton, mixed choir and symphony orchestra (2003)
* Christmas Lullaby for mixed choir a cappella (2003)
===2004===
* Psalm CXLVI Lauda, anima mea for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
* Psalm XVI Conserva me, Domine for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
* Psalm CXLII Voce mea ad Dominum, clamavi for mixed choir a cappella(2004)
* De profundis for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
* Adoramus te for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
* Salve, Ara – Meditations on Sound no. I for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
* Fugitive vision for harp (2004)
* Deprecatio Marialis 1 for mixed choir a cappella (2004)
===2005===
* Jubilate Deo for mixed choir a cappella (2005)
* Deprecatio Marialis 2 for mixed choir a cappella (2005)
* Deprecatio Marialis 3 for mixed choir a cappella (2005)
* Choral for mixed choir a cappella (2005)
* Koncert for clarinet, string chamber orchestra and harp (2005)
* Fresk I for large symphony orchestra (2005)
* Popule Meus for mixed choir a cappella (2005)
* Fresk II for 8 strings instruments (2005)
* Fresk III for tube, large brass orchestra and percussion (2005)
===2006===
* For... About pain, silence and Cassiopeia for vibraphone, pipe organ and voice (2006)
* Fresk IV for soprano, two baritons, large symphony orchestra, large mixed choir, male choir and boys choir (2006)
* Jesienne for voice and piano (2006)
===2007===
* Threnody for pipe organ and chamber orchestra (2007)
* Ambda, a song to children's words for large mixed choir (2007)
* Music for the film "Days of My Life – Auschwitz: A True Story". (2007)
* Tantum ergo for mixed choir a cappella (2007)
===2008===
* Déjà vu – Symphony No. 1 concertante for symphony orchestra (2007–2008)
* String quartet no. 1 (2008–2009)
===2009===
* Block of memory no. 1 for string quartet, piano and percussion (2009)
* Block of memory no. 2 for string quartet, piano and percussion (2009)
* Sobbing silence no. 1 for voice and string quartet (2009)
* Sobbing silence no. 2 for voice, string quartet, piano and percussion (2009)
* Loftiness of pain for voice, string quartet, piano and percussion (2009)
* Karhora for chamber orchestra (2009)
===2010===
* Andromeda - electronic music
* Maeija Variations – variations for piano (or pipe organ)
===2011===
* Silesia 1921 for symphony orchestra and mixed choir (2010–2011)
* Nos autem gloriari for mixed choir a cappella (2011)
* Street games for guitar (2011)
* Sunset - electronic music (2011)
* This is not a Country of Heroes for symphony orchestra and choir (2011)
===2012===
* Misja Wolnego – Intro for symphony orchestra, soprano and choir (2012)
* Misja Wolnego – Zacisze 3 for symphony orchestra (2012)
* Misja Wolnego – War for symphony orchestra and choir (2012)
* Misja Wolnego – Memories for symphony orchestra and guitar (2012)
* Misja Wolnego – The journey through the life for symphony orchestra and flute (2012)
* Misja Wolnego – Family for symphony orchestra, guitar and flute (2012)
* Pastelux in three parts for guitar (2012)
* Arquato for symphony orchestra, electronics and choir (2012)
* Soundtrack to the training film "The Competitive Will Survive"
* Soundtrack to a film documenting a football match in connection with the congress of presidents of Polish cities.
* Animated Logo Soundtrack olafflak.com
* Soundtrack for the training film "Build a Team",
===2013===
* Vocal Concerto „Camerata" for soloists (2012–2013)
* String quartet no.2 (2013)
* Tubex for tube solo (2013)
* Pater noster for Czesław for mixed choir a cappella (2013)
* Invocation for Independence Day (2013) – invocation for mixed choir and organ (with lyrics by J. Soćko)
* Etudes for solo guitar (in ten parts; 2013–2014)
===2014===
* Semi semi for two mixed choir and string orchestra (2014) (link to the invitation to the concert from the website Filharmonia Śląska)
* Ssonnattuss for guitar (in three parts, 2014)
* 1st act of the musical drama A Fair Fairy Tale (libretto by Joanna Soćko, 2013–2014)
* Earth Music for symphony orchestra (2014)
* Music on the theme of psalm 107 for male choir (2014) (link to the Silesian Philharmonic website with the announcement filharmoniaslaska.art.pl)
* Music on the theme of psalm 82 for male choir (2014)
* Music on the theme of psalm 150 for mixed choir (2014)
* Music on the theme of psalm 6 for mixed choir (2014/2015)
===2015===
* Gardens in four parts for symphony orchestra (2015)
* Ego sum pastor bonus for soprano and mixed choir (2015)
* Sacral Diptych for saxophone and mixed choir (2015) (also known as Psalm)
===2016===
* Avanti for chamber orchestra (2015–2016)
* Concerto for tube with piano accompaniment (2015–2016)
* To my friend – Siddharta (tribute to Aleksander) for string quartet (2016)
===2017===
* Hydrology, or a musical tale about water for soprano, chamber orchestra and spoken voice (2016–2017)
* St. Mark Passion for mixed choir a cappella (2017)
* Isaiah's Meditations for mixed choir a cappella (2017)
===2018===
* About the girl – a musical picture from Kurpie for mixed choir a cappella (2018)
* Concerto for tuba and orchestra (2018)
===2019===
* Madrigal Io tacero for mixed choir a cappella (2019)
* Madrigal Moro lasso for mixed choir a cappella (2019)
* Song Sorrow (2019)
* Waltz for Vamp – video game soundtrack (2019)
===2020===
* Madrigal Invan dunque for mixed choir a cappella (2020)
* Bies for guitar and piano in three parts (2020)
* Call of the spirits – video game soundtrack (2020)
* Wave – video game soundtrack (2020)
===2021===
* Five pieces for viola da gamba and harpsichord (2021)
* Concerto for pardessus de viole and harpsichord (2021)
* Trois inspirations pour l'orgue (2021)
* A la recherche d'un maître pour contrebasse et orgue (2021)
* Between for five guitars
* Anthem of the Transform4Europe for symphony orchestra and mixed choir (2022)
===2023===
* Widzę Cię Czechu - electronic music for animation (2023)
* R!R - electronic music for animation(2023)
* Serenity and Calm - electronic relaxation music (2023)
* Oboe Quintet (2023)
==Film music==
===2020===
* Ostatnie dni lata (2020), reż. Klaudia Kęska
===2019===
* Toń (2019), reż. Martyna Ludwig
* Rodzeństwo (2019), reż. Michał Rakowski
* Mary Magdalena (2019)
===2014===
* Doktor Faustus,reż. Anna Urbańczyk.
===2012===
* Misja Wolnego, reż. Wojciech Szwiec.
===2010===
* Klisze Pamięci Mariana Kołodzieja, reż. G. Rosengarten
=== 2009===
* Dni mojego życia... Auschwitz. Historia Prawdziwa, reż. G. Rosengarten.
Category:1979 births
Category:People from Ship Bottom, New Jersey
Category:Polish musicians
Category:Polish people