Kaca Aleksandra

Aleksandra Kaca (* 1991-), composer, songwriter, manager, Italianist. She graduated in Italian Studies from the University of Warsaw, meanwhile completing partial studies at LUMSA University in Rome – majoring in Cultural Production, Journalism, and Multimedia. As a translator, her achievements include collaborations with the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute, the Cinema Italia Oggi festival (Kino Muranów, Cinecittà LUCE), and the directing duo Manetti Bros. She is also a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, where she completed postgraduate studies in Artist Manager conducted in cooperation with the Warsaw School of Economics, and composition in the class of Marcin Błażewicz (BA) and Krzysztof Baculewski (MA). She also completed partial composition studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus in the class of Simon Steen-Andersen and Niels Rønsholdt. In addition, she participated in composition courses, including Komposition-Intensivwoche in Sauen (Carola Bauckholt, Caspar Johannes Walter, Manos Tsangaris), workshops organized as part of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (Bernhard Lang, Pierre Jodlowski) and the Donaueschinger Musiktage (2016).

In her work, she focuses primarily on timbre. She readily employs unusual combinations, such as the juxtaposition of harp and piano in “Shadow Lines,” or soprano and baritone saxophones with electronics in “Argument of a Dream.” She is interested in a variety of musical genres. She is the founder and leader of the FJORS ensemble (compositions, voice, keyboards, electronics). She won first prize in the 56th Tadeusz Baird Young Composers’ Competition and was also a beneficiary of the “Music of Our Times” program launched by the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy Association, under which her “Shadow Lines” and “Volière II” were recorded by DUX, and the scores were published by PWM Edition.The composer’s works have been performed in the United States, Denmark, and Poland, including at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Pulsar Festival (Copenhagen), Panorama Festival (Aarhus), at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music, the Pomeranian Philharmonic, and the Nowy Theatre. As a member of improvisational collectives, she has given concerts in Budapest (the UNITRA trio co-founded with flautist Ania Karpowicz and performer Marta Grzywacz), at the Containerklang in Cologne, the Ad Libitum festival at the Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, and the Warsaw Sanatorium of Sound at the SPATiF Club (the ERROR trio co-founded with Teoniki Rożynek and Żaneta Rydzewska).

Since 2019, she has been the manager of the Hashtag Ensemble cooperative, specializing in the performance of contemporary music. In 2015, together with Teoniki Rożynek, Żaneta Rydzewska, and Rafał Ryterski, she founded the composers’ group gen~.rate, with which she created the New Music Concerts series (2015–17) and the multi-sensory performance EMBODY (2018). In February 2020, she participated in the “Creators Conference” forum organized in Brussels by ECSA.

Selected works: Shadow Lines for harp, piano and cello (2014), Mémoire de l’ombre for cello (2015), Límites for string quartet and multipercussion (2015), Flarlægur for violin and viola (2016), Volière II for clarinets, cello and double bass (2017), Reflecting pool for ensemble (2017), Motion blur for viola, accordion and electronic layer (2017), Argument of a dream for saxophones and electronic layer (2017), Unseen for ensemble, light, video mapping and electronic layer (2018), Common ground for ensemble and electronic layer (2018), infinite blue for cello, symphony orchestra and live electronics (2019–20), rilievo for orchestra and electronics (2020), Ultimate errors compilation, improvisation for three performers, objects, instruments and live electronics (with Teoniki Rożynek and Żaneta Rydzewska; 2020).