Composer Elżbieta Sikora Receives Prize of the President of the French Republic

The 80-year-old composer received the distinction at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Paris

The Polish composer Elżbieta Sikora has been honored with the Prize of the President of the French Republic. She received the distinction at a ceremony on March 21, 2024, at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Paris, under the patronage of Emmanuel Macron. Previously, recipients of this award have included Kaija Saariaho and Bernard Cavanna.

Sikora studied electroacoustic music in Paris at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales with Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle, and composition in Warsaw with Tadeusz Baird and Zbigniew Rudziński.

Her music has been recorded by Polish Radio, Radio France, WDR, and SWR among others. Her latest monograph album Concertos, released on the Anaklasis label, received the Coup de Coeur award, the Choc Classica distinction from the French magazine Classica, and was nominated for the Fryderyk Award 2024 in the category for "Album of the Year: Concert Music."

"Elżbieta Sikora's catalog currently includes about 110 works, from electronic music to instrumental and vocal music," wrote musicologist Michele Tosi in support of the award. "The composer continues to undertake subsequent commissions with the same energy. Her latest monograph CD, which contains three concertos (for piano, organ and violin), is a testimony to her talent."

"I am very happy with this award, it is a great pride and joy for me," Elżbieta Sikora told the Polish Press Agency. "The award is for the entirety of my work, and it is also the year of my 80th birthday. "I certainly owe this to the Anaklasis and PWM publishing houses, which recently released CDs of my music."

"I have been working as a composer for over 50 years," she added. "I try to combine various means of expression, such as electronic and instrumental music. This is a moment in my life when I should take stock of something, but I have no time for it at all. I always have something to do done, I'm just starting to compose a new opera."