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.

Selected works

  • Arching Sentiments for brass quintet c. 10 minutes
  • They observed, but did not evaluate for clarinet in B, violoncello and accordion c. 12 minutes
  • If for solo trumpet c. 5 minutes
  • Mothers for viola and string orchestra, Meta World Contemporary Art Festival, Belgrade, 13 December 2023, Saša Mirković, Ensemble Metamorphosis
  • Natural Harbors for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano 15 minutes
  • The Lost Blue - Still Connecting for flute, percussion and piano 14 minutes
  • Quiet Differences for two guitars 7 minutes
  • Converging Understandings for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns 11 minutes
  • Kryha for two accordions
  • Planting for cimbalom
  • Da perenne gaudium for organ
  • Lavender Fields for flute, viola and harp 10 minutes
  • On Temperance for piano
  • The Vanishing for 2 accordions and organ 12 minutes
  • Sinaia Echoes for flute, percussion and piano 15 minutes
  • More Questions Than Answers for guitar 8 minutes
  • Invisible Beings for string orchestra
  • In der Essenz for flute, percussion and piano 5 minutes
  • Howling Glaciers for piano and accordion
  • Gegen.Stand for accordion and orchestra 20 minutes
  • Sacrifices for piano
  • Déjà vu
  • Mornings for piano
  • Terauchi for string quartet and audio-playback 10 minutes
  • Ave verum for soprano, violin and organ, Organ Plus Festival in Ružomberok, 25 June 2023, Miriam Žiarna, soprano, Rastislav Adamko, violin, Zuzana Zahradníková, organ
  • Ave verum for soprano, violin and piano, Filharmonia Częstochowska, Częstochowa, 20 March 2024, Miriam Žiarna, soprano, Rastislav Adamko, violin, Zuzana Zahradníková, piano
  • It'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 minutes
  • Wold
  • Folium for piano and organ 10 minutes
  • Guitar quintet The Son, for guitar and string quartet approx. 10 minutes
  • In Embrace for double bass and piano approx. 11 minutes
  • Mit den Augen eines Falken for mandolin and guitar approx. 11 minutes
  • Behind the Waves for viola and string orchestra approx. 12 minutes
  • Portus pacis for organ 9 minutes
  • Abandoned Gates for piano and string quartet 13 minutes
  • Seas and Deserts for string quartet and audio-playback 12 minutes
  • Ich war in dir for soprano and cello
  • Danube Afterpoint for piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two pianos and string quartet 15 minutes
  • Effugium for accordion and audio-playback 8 minutes
  • Senahh for flute and piano
  • Green for accordion
  • Spomaleniny for violin and piano
  • Munk for viola and piano
  • Silent Wanderings for guitar 5 minutes
  • Wie 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 minutes
  • To 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

  • 1995: THE ReR QUARTERLY © QUARTERLY, ReR Volume 4 No 1 CD - ReR 0401 Recommended Records
  • 2003: NAMASTE SUITE © Mnemes HCD 102
  • 2008: NUOVE MUSICE PER TROMBA 6 © AZ 5005
  • 2008: THE HEALING HEATING DIO © Czech Radio
  • 2008: NAMAH feat. Floraleda Sacchi, Jon Anderson, David Moss © musica slovaca SF 00542131
  • 2009: MINIMAL HARP © DECCA / Universal 476 317
  • 2011: INSIDE THE TREE © Amadeus Arte Catalogue No. AA11003
  • 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
  • 2018: FRIENDS IN COMMON TIME Catalogue No. © Copyright - Rebecca Jeffreys
  • 2018: BIRDS © Fuga 9447, EAN: 6419369094478
  • 2019: BOWEN-REGER-MACHAJDIK-BRAHMS © Pavlík Records
  • 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.