Marta Kowalczuk (1998) is a composer and baroque violinist whose music moves through layered textures and shifting states — exploring what lies in between: between voice and language, noise and music, body and sound, past and present. Her work spans opera, music theatre, instrumental and choral music, and scores for silent film, often shaped by fragmentary structures, theatrical gestures, and a sense of sonic permeability.

She studied composition with Michael Obst in Weimar, Gordon Kampe in Hamburg, Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil in Wrocław, and baroque violin with Zbigniew Pilch in Wrocław.

Currently working as a freelance composer and baroque violinist, Marta’s music has been performed by ensembles such as the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Ensemble via nova, Ensemble Garage, Hamburger Ratsmusik, and I SOLISTI Antwerp, under the direction of conductors including Kent Nagano, Dennis Russell Davies, and Frank Strobel. Her works have been presented at prestigious venues including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Gewandhaus Leipzig, and at festivals across Germany, South Korea, the USA, and Europe.

Recent awards and residencies include the 2025 orchestral commission from the Philharmonic Orchestra of Kiel for the Hafenstädte – Tore zur Welt competition, the ad libitum Composition Prize of the Winfried Böhler Foundation (2024/25), a commission for a performative project at the Schlosskonzerte Oranienburg (2024), and a three-month residency at Zvjezdane Staze, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2024). In 2023, Marta participated in the Fleetstreet Residency Hamburg and received an Honorable Mention from the Flute New Music Consortium Competition (USA). Other distinctions include a six-month residency at Künstlerhof Schreyahn (2022/23) and the German Film Music Award in the Nachwuchs category (2022). Earlier recognitions include Honorable Mentions from the Ensemble Ibis Competition (Miami, 2021), selections for the Miniatura project (University of Wisconsin Green Bay, 2021) and Improvvisazione per violino barocco (Kaleidoscope, Los Angeles, 2021), participation in the MDR Klassik project Mikrokompositionen (2020), as well as prizes at the International Composers Competition iMelody in Plano, USA (2017) and the 4th National Composers Competition Piotr Perkowski in Toruń, Poland (2018).

In addition to composing and performing, Marta actively contributes to the musical community through teaching, workshops, and panel discussions. She is a founding member of the “Generation Zukunft” working group of the German Composers’ Association (DKV) and was recently elected Deputy (Stellvertreterin) of the DKV-Förderverein.