Zuzanna Koziej
About the composer
Zuzanna Koziej was born in 1994 in Toruń, Poland. She obtained a master’s degree in composition from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland, and the Giuseppe Verdi State Conservatory of Music in Turin, Italy.
She is a composer and arranger, the author of approximately 150 pieces for various ensembles: chamber, orchestral, and choral. The scope of her compositions and arrangements includes film soundtracks, electronic music, folk music interpretations, and many other musical genres.
Her music is performed by ensembles in Poland and internationally, often featuring over a hundred performers of different nationalities on stage at various international music events. Her pieces have been performed in the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Ecuador, Serbia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania. She has won important composition prizes not only in Poland but also in countries such as the USA, Canada, and Latvia.
About the Stabat Mater
| Date: | 2017 |
| Performers: | women's choir a cappella. |
| Length: | 17.15 minutes |
| Particulars: | This composition particularly struck us because Mary's torment and her sights become so audible through falling steps and interval leaps. The second movement, "Cuius animam gementem," is sung by a solo soprano—as if from a distance—expressing the state of the soul of a mother in pain after losing her son, while the choir's plaintive exclamations sound in the background. Changes in time and rhythm throughout the composition also contribute to an atmosphere of great sadness and total loneliness. What binds the whole composition together is the chorus's repetition of "Stabat Mater" at the end of almost every movement. |
| Textual variations: | All 20 stanzas are sung, divided into 9 movements |
| Colour bar: |
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Information about the recording
| CD: | NFM 82 Music of Trust Stabat Mater Zusanne |
| More info: | The premiere was on Feb. 17, 2023, in Białystok, Poland. All compositions of Koziej on the CD are a cappella and recorded for the first time. © 2022 Narodowe Forum Muzyki. 2022 released by CD Accord Music Edition. |
| Choir: | Choir of the National Forum of Music in Wrocław (Chór NFM) Soloists Aleksandra Turalska |
| Soloists: | Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny |
| Other works: | Da pacem |
| Code: | KOZ 01 |
