Jan Staruch

Bio

Born on January 13, 1997, in Olsztyn. In 2016, he graduated with honors at the Fryderyk Chopin State Music School in Olsztyn in the violin class of Dorota Obijalska and performed as a soloist at the Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic. In 2019, he completed his bachelor’s degree at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk in the violin class of Andrzej Konstanty Kulka. In June 2022, he obtained a Master of Arts degree at the same Academy, in the violin class of Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka and Anna Wandtke-Wypych. During his graduation recital, he performed as a soloist with pianist Piotr Pawlak and the BalticAlians Chamber Orchestra. The concert also featured the world premiere of the composition flocculus by Jakub Pawlak, written especially for this occasion.

During his studies, he participated in numerous chamber and orchestral projects, performing as concertmaster of the Academy Orchestra and the BalticAlians Chamber Orchestra. He appeared as a soloist during an international project at the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk and at international festivals such as Metropolia jest ok, Języki Muzyki, as well as a chamber musician at the NeoArte Festival. He is a multiple recipient of scholarships from the Rector of the Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Marshal of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.

In the 2020/2021 season, he won eight prizes at international music competitions as a member of the PrismDuo, including first prizes at the X Concorso Internazionale Per Giovani Musicisti, 13 Concorso Internazionale Musicale “Luigi Cerritelli”, I Nice International Music Competition, I International Music Competition AVIS, second prize at The Progressive Musicians Online Classics Competition 2020, II International Online Instrumental Performance Competition, Toronto, Medici International Music Competition 2021, and third prize at the VI Odin International Music Online Competition.

In the 2021/2022 season, he received first prizes as a soloist at the Royal Sound Music Competition in Canada and at the Adria Art Fest in Slovenia, as well as during the 10 Concorso Musicale Internazionale Città di Palmanova, and a first prize together with the award for Best Performance at the Vienna Virtuoso Festival. In 2023, he became a finalist of the Stanisław Wyspiański Scholarship competition, won several international competitions, and received a Platinum Prize and the award for Best Performance of a composition by L. van Beethoven at the Beethoven International Music Competition 2023, as well as a first prize at the 4th Swiss International Music Competition. In June 2023, he completed postgraduate studies in Cultural Management at the Warsaw School of Economics.

In December 2018, he founded the BalticAlians Chamber Orchestra, which has collaborated with many outstanding artists, including Jakub Jakowicz, Christian Elliott, George Tchitchinadze, Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka, Robert Kwiatkowski, Cezariusz Gadzina, Robert Kabara, and many others. In addition to the orchestra, he created a cycle of artistic performances entitled Artystą Być. The first edition premiered in February 2019, and the second took place in November 2021. In November 2020, he also founded the BalticAlians Foundation for the Support of Artistic Activities, which focuses on organizing cultural events performed by young artists and supporting emerging creators, especially musicians. In recent years, the Foundation has organized over 25 artistic events, engaging more than 150 young artists.

From 2021 to 2023, he worked as a violin teacher at the Municipal Music School in Dywity. In the 2023/2024 season, he worked as a specialist in the Department of Artistic Production Organization at the Warsaw Chamber Opera. He is currently a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Faculty of Arts, scientific discipline: musical arts. In 2025, he participated in the Muzyk Rezydent (Resident Musician) program organized by NIMiT and funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2025, he won the Grand Prix in the chamber music category as a member of the VistaDuo (Jan Staruch – violin, Bartosz Wiśniewski – piano) at the competition held as part of the 25th edition of the International Summer Academy – Festival and Competition Music Without Limits in Druskininkai, Lithuania. He also presented the premiere of his doctoral project entitled Brzmienia Czasu (Sounds of Time) during the 9th Days of Vocal Music in Gdynia at the Culture Consulate, followed by a second premiere at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.

Sounds of Time

The project Sounds of Time, conceived by Jan Staruch, is based on six contemporary compositions for violin, voice, and electronics, inspired by research conducted by Statistics Poland entitled Time Use Survey of the Population in Poland, describing how we allocate our time to various activities. Each piece offers a musical depiction of everyday activities—from professional work and education, through social relations, to rest, mass media consumption, and daily routine—together forming an artistic reflection of our reality.

The project involves a violinist and six singers representing different voice types: soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, countertenor, tenor, and bass. Thanks to this wide vocal diversity, the presented voices symbolically represent society as a whole, fitting into the overarching narrative of the project. The compositions are arranged to begin with the highest voice (soprano) and gradually descend to the lowest (bass), symbolizing the passage of time and increasing fatigue caused by everyday struggles—like a “discharging battery.”

In these compositions, the creators treat the voice as a musical instrument capable of extraordinary imitation of the sounds of the surrounding world, thus breaking away from the traditional role of the voice as a carrier of verbal meaning in works for violin and voice. As a result, the pieces transcend linguistic content and enter the realm of a universal, transnational musical language.

Materiał promocyjny:
Sounds of Time promotion

An integral part of the project is the visual cycle by Joanna Kaczmarczyk, encompassing objects, textiles, and spatial installations, presented in the form of a video documenting the creative process. These works complement the musical vision, creating a multi-layered dialogue between sound, image, and the idea of transience.

Sounds of Time is an audio-visual reflection on contemporary life—an attempt to capture its emotions, tensions, and rhythm through a modern artistic language in which tradition meets technology, and time itself becomes artistic material.

The premiere of Sounds of Time took place on October 11, 2025, at the Culture Consulate in Gdynia during the 9th Days of Vocal Music in Gdynia.
The second premiere was held on November 8, 2025, at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.

Repertuar

• „Child of Yesterday” - depiction of morning routine
• „It takes time to learn things” - depiction of professional work and learning
• „Tara” – depiction of social life, entertainment, and religiosity
• „remON/OFFt” – depiction of household chores and domestic activities
• „waving of swarm” – depiction of commuting and mass media use
• „being dreamt” – depiction of evening routine

„Child of Yesterday” - depiction of morning routine

“I am one of those who fear mornings. Nightmares, restless sleep, and a tendency toward anxiety do not help me welcome a new day with enthusiasm. However, I became a parent and began to feel responsible for the world our generation will leave behind—a world exploding with conflicts, dangers, and abuses of power, in the face of which I feel helpless. Through my composition, I experiment with a dialogue between two visions of the morning: that of an adult and that of a still-believing child. As a challenge, I attempt to discover the perfect morning, in which nightmares are replaced by beautiful visions of a dreamland we feel safe enough to leave, stepping into a new day with excitement and faith in a better world… A meditation on an ideal world that I hope our children will still have the chance to experience.” ~ Cornelia Zambila

„It takes time to learn things” - depiction of professional work and learning

“In It Takes Time to Learn Things, I sought to aesthetically develop the theme of persistent availability by creating rotational structures that are not processed but instead evolve in an apparently frustrating manner. The voice, which leads the melody/musical material, attempts to teach the violin its message. Considering the phenomenon of the learning curve, the violin initially ‘picks up’ the message in a fragile yet very sincere way. When the rotation of the message changes direction, the learning process begins anew. Since learning consumes time and energy, frustration and overstimulation are its natural components. Sometimes messages are misunderstood or taken out of context—but even then, the results can be fascinating.” ~ Antoni Cholewiński

„Tara” – depiction of social life, entertainment, and religiosity

(Social life and entertainment – Taniec (Dance); Helping others and religious practices – Amen; Participation in sports, recreation, and personal interests – Rondo and Allegro) “The title TARA is not accidental—it is formed from the first letters of the names of the individual movements (Taniec, Amen, Rondo, and Allegro). Each of us has dreams, goals, and priorities in life. We often measure them by professional success, social status, or education, yet balance is essential. When the weight of matters such as social life, passions, sport, or faith becomes too small, the packaging of our life begins to crack. That is why tara (in polish - the weight of packaging) is so important in our lives!” ~ Adam Dzieżyk

„remON/OFFt” – depiction of household chores and domestic activities

The piece remON/OFFt for countertenor, solo violin, and electronics is an attempt to convey my personal experiences, which—since the pandemic—have been constantly accompanied by renovation noises from neighboring apartments and other persistent sounds during my creative work. The title combines the Polish word remont (renovation) with the English words “on” and “off.” The words ON and OFF refer to the unexpectedly appearing and suddenly disappearing sounds of a drill. This noise, like no other, can frighten a person in a state of concentration, as it generates over 90 dB of sound in addition to its unpleasant timbre. The electronics imitate all the sounds of neighbors’ daily life that a person working from home must struggle with. The countertenor and violin parts reflect the emotions experienced at the time—irritation, nervousness, anger, and helplessness. The work employs extended performance techniques, and the harmony is constructed using a sequence of previously organized intervals. Additionally, the electronic part includes beats characteristic of club music, intensifying the mood of everyday life. ~ Magdalena Gorwa

„waving of swarm” – depiction of commuting and mass media use

The piece Waving of Swarm is a musical interpretation of media consumption in the context of modes of transportation. In addition to elements of my own interpretation of brutalism in music, I achieved an effect of maximal movement (micro-scale—individual ideas and techniques) and immobility (macro-scale—the sum of individual sections). The sound wave represents reflections of electromagnetic and radio waves necessary for media reception, which—like a waving swarm—influence the direction of our lives and become independent “movers.”

The collision of violin and voice functions not only as a musical dichotomy but also as a harmonious and complementary spectrum of waves. I maximized the sonic potential of both instruments while enriching them with electronic effects that, by their nature, sculpt sound spaces. ~ Nikodem Kluczyński

„being dreamt” – depiction of evening routine

The auditory layer of the evening abounds in various sounds; however, I did not want to transfer them literally into the composition. Instead, I attempt to “demimetize” them—subtly imitate them. In the electronic layer, we hear various sounds processed through filters, a vocoder, and reverb effects.

The instrumentation includes voice (bass), violin, and electronics understood as live electronics (i.e., real-time sound processing and generation), as well as tape (pre-recorded material including processed natural sounds such as clinking cutlery, running water, etc.). The harmonic layer is based on long, spectrally processed harmonies, to which the harmonic structure and instrumental material are subordinated. The vocal part consists only of phonemes or syllables with no hidden semantic meaning. The violin simultaneously counterbalances the voice and becomes a kind of “sonic aureole.”

The slowed-down narrative imitates the perception of time passing during sleep. The internal differentiation, with the longest section depicting sleep as its artistic transfiguration, is directly reflected in the title (literally: “being dreamt”).

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