Agata Zubel studied composition with Jan Wichrowski and singing with Danuta Paziuk-Zipser at the Wrocław Music Academy, graduating primus inter pares. She went on to study at the Conservatoruim Hogeschool Enschede in Holland. Since 2002, she has been a professor at the Wrocław Music Academy. In 2014, she received a Doctorate in Musical Arts. She is currently a member of the Polish Composers’ Union.

In 2001, she founded the ElettroVoce Duo with pianist and composer Cezary Duchnowski.

In 2011, she was composer-in-residence at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco. She was also composer-in-residence with the Krakow Philharmonic during their 2010 and 2012 seasons. In 2019, she was composer-in-residence with the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris. In 2020 she obtained a professor degree in arts.

Zubel has worked with ensembles such as musikFabrik, Ictus, Seattle Chamber Players, Münchener Kammerorchester, Neue Vocalsolisten, Remix Ensemble, Ensemble 2e2m, to name just a few. She has been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble InterContemporain, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, SWR Radio and the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv.

Her works have been performed at numerous festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova Festival in Wroclaw, Audio-Art Festival, Andrzej Panufnik’s Music Days in Krakow, Festival Adam Didur, Chanterelle Festival, Alternativa in Moscow, Corso Polonia in Rome, Velvet Curtain in Lviv, and Musikhøst Odense in Denmark. She has also appeared as a singer at the BBC Proms, Wien Modern, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Festival d’Automne in Paris, Darmstadt Summer Course, Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and Avanti! in Finland.

In 2010, her opera/ballet Between was premiered at the Warsaw National Opera, and in 2011, she was commisioned to write another opera, Oresteia, by the same institution. In 2016, she was commissioned by Klangforum Wien to compose the opera Bildbeschreibung; the work was premiered in 2018 at the Transart Festival in Bolzano (Italy).

Her work focuses primarily on vocal performance, but also on percussion, as in Re-Cycle (2001) for five percussionists, Nelumbo (2003) for four marimbas, Maximum load (2006) for percussion and computer, and Suite (2011) for percussion trio. Her music also makes frequent reference to literature, notably to the writing of Samuel Beckett (Not I (2010) and Cascando (2007)), as well as to the work of Polish authors such as Czesław Miłosz (Aphorisms on Miłosz (2011), A Song about the end of the world (1998)) and Tadeusz Dąbrowski (In between the ebb of thoughts and the flow of sleep (2013)).

Her discography includes more than a dozen releases, including albums of her own compositions, e.g., Not I and Cascando , as well as performances of works by Copland and Berg. Blots on the Sun, from her jazz trio El-Derwid, and more recently, Dream Lake, comprise the song cycles by Lutosławski and André Tchaïkovsky, respectively. Her music is published by PWM Edition.

Awards, Grants, and Prizes

• Coryphaeus of Polish Music in the category “Event of the Year”, 2018;
• European Composer Award for Fireworks, 2018;
• “Gloria Artis” Medal, 2017;
• Witold Lutosławski Society Prize, 2017;
• Coryphaeus of Polish Music in the category “Personality of the Year”, 2016;
• Union of Polish Composers Prize, 2014;
• “Polonica Nova” Prize for Not I, 2014;
• Composer Laureate of the International Tribune of Composers for Not I, 2013;
• Fryderyk Prize from the Polish Recording Industry Association in the Contemporary Music category for the album Cascando, 2010&;
• “Orpheus” Prize from the Association of Polish Artists & Musicians, 2009;
• Wroclaw Music Award for the ElettroVoce Duo, 2008;
• Wroclaw Music Award, 2005;
• Special prize for the ElettroVoce Duoe at the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition in Amsterdam, 2005;
• First Prize in the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music, 2002;
• First Prize and Special Prize from the Polish National Radio in the National Adam Didur Competition for Composers, 2000;
• First Prize and Special Prize from PWM Edition in the Andrzej Panufnik Competition for Composers, 1999.