dr hab. Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler
A pianist, chamber musician, composer and synaesthete, who graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Krakow in the piano class of Prof. Marek Koziak and the Academy of Music in Katowice in the Faculty of Jazz and Contemporary Music in the class of Composition and Arrangement of Prof. Andrzej Zubek. A graduate of the Vocal and Acting Faculty at the Academy of Music in Krakow under the direction of Prof. Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha. In addition, she graduated with honours from the Institute of English Studies of the Jagiellonian University and Teacher Training College in Krakow. In 2017 she was awarded a PhD in musical arts, and the doctoral thesis was awarded a distinction. In the same year she was awarded a title of certified piano teacher. In 2020 and 2022 she was awarded Scholarships of Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2024 she received the postdoctoral degree in the field of musical arts.
She is an author of numerous musical pieces for piano solo, 4 and 6 hands, big band and a string orchestra. As a pianist she regularly participates in many music festivals both in Poland and abroad. She is a pianist-accompanist and a vocal coach at the Academy of Music in Krakow as well as a piano and piano improvisation teacher in Władysław Żeleński Secondary School of Music in Krakow. She also cooperates with the Krakow Opera and a few ensembles of chamber music, as well as with a world-famous violinist Vadim Brodsky. She is a member of a few pop and rock bands that play both their own music as well as covers, where, in addition to playing the piano she also arranges music. She also conducts piano improvisation courses for students and teachers.
She has performed, among others, with the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Krakow, Krakow Opera Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio. She has made many recordings, for example with the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, pieces for 4 hands (For four children’s hands, PWM, 2018) and her own pieces: Pandemony, Poligrajki, Mołodyjki, Improwizje, Nuciaki, Lili Laj – Christmas carols, You are here again – songs to words by Julian Tuwim and Forgotten kisses – songs to words by Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska. Moreover, she is regularly participating in album recordings, both classical and pop-music artists. In July 2022 in London the premiere of her Waltz for 4 hands took place and in November 2022 in Tallinn there was a premiere of her piece called Softisono for 6 hands.
She has published her pieces for piano 4 hands – Kaleidoscope (SPMK, 2019), Pandemony (PWM, 2020), Poligrajki (PWM, 2022), Lili laj – Christmas carols for 4 hands (PWM, 2022), and a collection for piano solo Mołodyjki (PWM, 2023), Improvisions (PWM, 2023) for piano 4 hands with elements of improvisation, Nuciaki for piano solo (PWM, 2024), as well as multiple articles: The basics of improvisation in artistic education (“Contexts of culture, contexts of education”, SPMK 2017) and Synaesthesia – the practical implications in the work of a musician and English teacher (“Synaesthesia and Art”, Aureus 2016). Last but not least, her professional experience includes many years as a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (The Institute of English Philology) and, over the years, she has taught English to both children and adults, in a variety of language courses.