Annamaria Kowalsky

Annamaria Kowalsky (April 21st 1991 in Coburg) is a Croatian-Austrian composer, musician and artist.
== Life and Education ==
Annamaria Kowalsky was born to Croatian parents in Coburg, Germany. She is the granddaughter of alto singer Marijana Radev.
In 1995 the family moved to Klagenfurt after her father, Alexander Kowalsky, became choir director at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. From an early age she spent a lot of time at the theater and since the age of nine she has been involved in various productions on stage as an actor and singer.
From the age of six received violin lessons at the Carinthian State Conservatory (today Gustav Mahler Private University for Music), in 2006 she began her diploma studies in viola and switched to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2007, where she graduated in 2014. In addition to viola, she also studied the viola d'amore.
In 2014 she did her doctorate in philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, which she completed in 2018.
== Work ==
=== Visual Art ===
During her music studies she intensified her involvement with the medium of photography and worked as a Portrait photography for a couple of years from 2014. She created several series of Surrealism Self-portrait which were exhibited numerous times in Vienna.
Self-taught, she converted her photographic experiences into paintings. For two years she painted exclusively in black and white with Oil painting and Acrylic paint, then shades of blue found their way into her work, which are still dominant today. From 2014 she also worked on Linocut and Woodcut, creating a series of portraits of her friends.
Through increased job projects abroad, she turned to Watercolor painting as a travel medium from 2019. This process dissolved her Figurative art work completely into Abstract art. 
For the 2021 productions of the music Streaming media as a service On Air, she designed the projected visuals for Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)' 4th symphony, Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák) 9th symphony and Symphony No. 41 (Mozart) 41st symphony.https://onair.events/brahms-symphony-no-4-vodhttps://onair.events/dvorak-symphony-9-vodhttps://onair.events/mozart-symphony-41-vod
In 2022 she created kaleidoscope visuals based on her paintings for three Premiere of her works in New York City.https://creartbox.nyc/pages/childhood-memories
=== Music ===
In 2018 she composed her first works, including Dreams of Lunacy, a suite based on one of her self-portrait series. Archipelago, another such suite, followed the following year. She recorded both suites herself, playing violin, viola and double bass. Three of the artworks were exhibited with the respective parts of Archipelago in 2019 in the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.https://www.mqw.at/institutionen/q21/programm/2019/03/transformative-embodiments
In 2020 she was signed by the music publisher Universal Edition.https://www.universaledition.com/annamaria-kowalsky-7825 Since the launch of their new publishing tool scodo in 2021, she has acted as an official testimonial and is the face of the campaign.https://www.universaledition.com/scodo/about
Composition commissions followed e.g. by the Ensemble Kontrapunkte for Wien Modern and their concert series at the Musikverein, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for the multimedia project Xodus by Martin Fröst and Jesper Waldersten, Norwegian violinist Ingerine Dahl, American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the new German chamber music series feet become ears.
In addition to the connection between music and image, she also explores the interweaving of olfactory elements. The piece Olfactospheres, commissioned by Ensemble Kontrapunkte and premiered at the Musikverein in Vienna in 2021, was originally conceived as a sound-fragrance composition, but the premiere fell into a lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the performance was recorded and broadcasted by Austrian radio Ö1 without an audience.https://oe1.orf.at/programm/20201217/621495/Neue-Klaenge-im-Musikverein
==== Arvo Pärt Centre Residency ====
In 2021 she was the first to receive the then newly established residency at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Estonia.https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-centres-first-residency-scholarship-was-awarded-to-austrian-composer-annamaria-kowalsky/ Her multimedia work was particularly highlighted as the reason for this, since the residency is not only intended for composers, but also for Artist, Writer and Architect. She spent three weeks there in the summer, creating three compositions and a series of watercolor paintings. She also spent some time with Arvo Pärt, who had completely retired from the public eye a few months later. She wrote about her moving impressions in blog entries on her website,https://www.annamariakowalsky.com/blog which were also shared by the Arvo Pärt Centre.
==== Album Recording at Abbey Road Studios ====
In summer 2022 she recorded five of her works under the baton of Johannes Vogel with musicians of the Philharmonia Orchestra in Studio Two at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. She recorded two other works herself in Vienna. The release date of the album has not yet been announced.
== Compositions ==
=== Orchestral Works ===
with choir
* Calamitas (2020)
* Xodus Hymn (2022)
String Orchestra
* Dreams of Lunacy (2019)
* Archipelago (2019)
=== Ensemble ===
* Rhizom (2019)
* Olfactospheres (2020)
* Atmospheres (2021)
* Heart Meditation (2021)
=== Chamber Music ===
* Reset (2019)
* Static Pointillism (2019)
* Five Miniatures (2020)
* In Circles (2021)
* String Quartet No. 1 (2021)
* Duo No. 1: Hall of Mirrors (2022)
=== Solo === 
* Perpetuo (2020)
* Autopoiesis (2020)
* Childhood Memories (2021)
* Sei solo la luce (2022)
* na brodu (2023)
=== Choir ===
* Rewind (2018)
=== Graphic Notation ===
* Time is relative (2021)
* Abstract Dualism (2022)
Category:1991 births
Category:People from Coburg
Category:Croatian composers
Category:Croatian musicians