Peter Machajdík

Peter Machajdík is a Slovak composer of classical music, performer and sound artist. He was born and grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia. He has received critical acclaim for his chamber, orchestral, electronic, choral, and theatre works.
In the 1990s, he took part in seminars with Vinko Globokar, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Clarence Barlow, Konrad Boehmer, and others. In 1992, he was the guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.
Machajdik has composed music in nearly all genres, including orchestra, band, chorus, chamber music, works for solo instrument, works for piano and organ, as well as liturgical works and hymns.
Moreover, he has created a number of graphic notations, including the Dialogue with... series which is based on letters received from composer colleagues with additional visual elements added. While in this series the written content of the letters may appear as audible text, other graphic notations are purely visual. Others again contain notation or text describing elements to be performed.
His music is published primarily by Musica Slovaca, Alea Publishing, Zimbel Press, and Edition Hudba.
Peter Machajdík's music often asks questions about the society in which we live. It calls for humanity and responsibility that human beings should have to each other and to the world. Machajdík's works, often considered as the counterpoint to the violence, intolerance, racism and greed of our age, are marked by a keen sensitivity to instrumental colour and texture.
Machajdik's orchestral works have been premiered by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, State Philharmonic Orchestra of Košice, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Pomeranian Philharmonic, Lugansk Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Europea, Capella Istropolitana, Ensemble Metamorphosis, Cluster Ensemble, and many others.
He has also worked with Jon Anderson from Yes, harpist Floraleda Sacchi, cimbalom virtuoso Enikö Ginzery, vocalist & drummer David Moss, conductors Benjamin Bayl, Anu Tali, Miran Vaupotić, Florian Ludwig, Pawel Przytocki, Gum Nanse, Przemysław Zych, clarinetists Martin Adámek and Guido Arbonelli, and violist Sasha Mirković.
Film credits include Machajdik's scores for 4 Schüler gegen Stalin, Wild Slovakia and Miloš and the Lynxes. Machajdik has worked with choreographers and dancers such as Dorothea Rust, Studio tanca, Petra Fornayova, Tina Mantel, Lucia Kašiarová, and others.
A vegetarian and teetotaler, Machajdík lives in Berlin, Germany, and in a little Slovak town situated in a valley, surrounded by lofty hills.
He is currently Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Arts in Košice.

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Selected works

Arching Sentiments for brass quintet c. 10 minutesThey observed, but did not evaluate for clarinet in B, violoncello and accordion c. 12 minutesIf for solo trumpet c. 5 minutesMothers for viola and string orchestra, Meta World Contemporary Art Festival, Belgrade, 13 December 2023, Saša Mirković, Ensemble MetamorphosisNatural Harbors for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano 15 minutesThe Lost Blue - Still Connecting for flute, percussion and piano 14 minutesQuiet Differences for two guitars 7 minutesConverging Understandings for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns 11 minutesKryha for two accordions Planting for cimbalom Da perenne gaudium for organ Lavender Fields for flute, viola and harp 10 minutesOn Temperance for piano The Vanishing for 2 accordions and organ 12 minutesSinaia Echoes for flute, percussion and piano 15 minutesMore Questions Than Answers for guitar 8 minutesInvisible Beings for string orchestra In der Essenz for flute, percussion and piano 5 minutesHowling Glaciers for piano and accordion Gegen.Stand for accordion and orchestra 20 minutesSacrifices for piano Déjà vu Mornings for piano Terauchi for string quartet and audio-playback 10 minutesAve verum for soprano, violin and organ, Organ Plus Festival in Ružomberok, 25 June 2023, Miriam Žiarna, soprano, Rastislav Adamko, violin, Zuzana Zahradníková, organAve verum for soprano, violin and piano, Filharmonia Częstochowska, Częstochowa, 20 March 2024, Miriam Žiarna, soprano, Rastislav Adamko, violin, Zuzana Zahradníková, pianoIt's Not the Mist for two pianos Zem for organ 1-9-1-8 for violin and piano Signes de la mémoire for clarinet, violin, cello and piano approx. 8 minutesWold Folium for piano and organ 10 minutes

Guitar quintet The Son, for guitar and string quartet approx. 10 minutesIn Embrace for double bass and piano approx. 11 minutesMit den Augen eines Falken for mandolin and guitar approx. 11 minutesBehind the Waves for viola and string orchestra approx. 12 minutesPortus pacis for organ 9 minutesAbandoned Gates for piano and string quartet 13 minutesSeas and Deserts for string quartet and audio-playback 12 minutesIch war in dir for soprano and cello Danube Afterpoint for piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two pianos and string quartet 15 minutesEffugium for accordion and audio-playback 8 minutesSenahh for flute and piano Green for accordion Spomaleniny for violin and piano Munk for viola and piano Silent Wanderings for guitar 5 minutesWie der Wind in den Dünen for string orchestra The Immanent Velvet for piano Kyrie for mixed choir a cappella Pictures of a Changing Sensibility for violin and piano Linnas for piano Domine for mixed choir and tubular bells Flower full of Gardens for harp or harpsichord San José for large orchestra Zem zeme for clarinet quartet Water Forgives for cimbalom Concerto for 2 bayans and orchestra, dedicated to all of those who helped to remove „the iron curtain“ and the communistic regimes in the central part of Europe in the 1989 On the Seven Colours of Light for organ Iese for flute solo approx. 5 minutesTo the Rainbow So Close Again for string quartet Nell'autunno del suo abbraccio insonne for harp Obscured Temptations for piano Si diligamus invicem for mixed choir a cappella Namah for string orchestra Lasea for string orchestra Kirin for oboe solo Five Mirrors for accordion Wrieskalotkipaoxq for saxophone quartet Intime Musik

Music for theatre

Escaped Alone Niekto príde" Bezzubata

Sound Art and Graphic Notation

Donauklang Dialogue with Stockhausen Dialogue with Malcom Goldstein

Discography

2012: CZECHOSLOVAK CHAMBER DUO Czech Radio, Catalogue No. #CR0591-2
2012: A MARVELOUS LOVE - New Music for Organ, Albany Records, Catalogue No. TROY1357
2012: THE IMMANENT VELVET, Azyl Records, Catalogue No. R266-0024-2-331
2015: ELEKTRICKÁ GITARA, Hevhetia, Catalogue No. HV 0070-2-331
2022: MACHAJDÍK, RUNCHAK, ZYCH, STIVRINA • ACCOSPHERE NEW ACCORDION CHAMBER MUSIC • PALUS, BUDZIŇÁKOVÁ. Works by Peter Machajdík, Grzegorz Majka, Volodymyr Runchak, Renate Stivrina, Tyler Versluis and Wojciech Ziemowit Zych © DUX Records
2022: Proxima Piano Trio - Current Vibes. Piano trios by Peter Machajdík, Peter Groll, Matej Sloboda and Konštantin Ilievsky © UBU Collection 2022

On the 2008 CD NAMAH, Machajdík worked with singer Jon Anderson from Yes, harpist Floraleda Sacchi, vocalist & drummer David Moss, clarinet virtuoso Guido Arbonelli, cello player Jozef Lupták, and others.