Musicatlas
Music
Peter Machajdík is a composer of contemporary tonal music. His compositions draw on several sources of inspiration, especially from the polyphony and modal harmonies of early music. In recent years Machajdík’s works have been typified by both economy of material and stringency of method, thereby demonstrating that what may be simple musical language can nevertheless be powerful. Peter Machajdík chooses to compose his compositions in solitary places.
Life
Peter Machajdík was born in 1961 in Bratislava, Slovakia. He has received commissions and awards from, among others, the Slovak Music Fund, the Kulturkontakt Foundation, the Arte Quartet and the Luigi Russolo Foundation. In 1992 he was invited to live and work in Berlin as a guest of the Artists-in-Berlin Program of the DAAD, in 1999 he was a composer-in-residence at the Schloss Wiepersdorf, Germany, in 2002 he was the composer-in-residence at the Kuenstlerhaus Worpswede, Germany, and 2004 he was the composer-in-residence at the Kuenstlerhaus Lukas at the German Baltic coast.
Machajdík attended a number of summer courses with composers such as Vinko Globokar, Konrad Boehmer, Wim van Zutphen, and others.
Machajdík’s works have been performed and broadcast worldwide and featured at festivals such as Inventionen in Berlin, Nuovi Spazi Musicali in Rome, Melos-Ethos in Bratislava, Audio Art Festival in Cracow, Hörgänge in Vienna, Bremer Kunstfrühling, Marathon of Contemporary Music in Prague, and Musica Nova in Sofia.
Machajdík has lectured on new music, led workshops, and curated festivals of contemporary music.
Since 1993 Machajdík has lived in Germany and now works as a freelance composer.