Elisabeth Chojnacka is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

ist living in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. She is one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord

Contemporary harpsichord

Contemporary harpsichord refers to the use of the musical instrument the harpsichord in the 20th century. The instrument was successfully revived thanks to pioneers such as Wanda Landowska.-History:...

 music.

She earned a degree from the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy

Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy

The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw is located at ulica Okólnik 2 in central Warsaw, Poland...

 in Warsaw in 1962, after which she moved to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where she studied with Aimée van de Wiele.

Chojnacka has presented the premiere performances of many works for harpsichord, both solo as well as with ensemble and/or electronics. Over 80 composers have dedicated works to her, including György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

, Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...

, Zygmunt Krauze

Zygmunt Krauze

- Biography :Polish composer and pianist , who studied composition and piano at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He is known as a composer of unistic music, based on the theory of unistic art adopted from the painting of Wladyslaw Strzeminski...

, and Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman

Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...

, and performed or recorded music by Maurice Ohana

Maurice Ohana

Maurice Ohana was an Anglo-French composer of Sephardic Jewish origin.Ohana was born in Casablanca, Morocco. He was a British citizen until 1976, as his father had been born in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. He originally studied architecture, but abandoned this in favour of a...

, Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, Toshi Ichiyanagi

Toshi Ichiyanagi

is a Japanese composer of avant-garde music. He studied with Tomojiro Ikenouchi and John Cage.One of his most notable works is the 1960 composition, Kaiki, which combined Japanese instruments, shō and koto, and western instruments, harmonica and saxophone. Another work Distance requires the...

, Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...

, Cristóbal Halffter

Cristóbal Halffter

Cristóbal Halffter Jiménez-Encina is a Spanish composer. He is the nephew of two other composers, Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter.-Life:...

, François-Bernard Mâche

François-Bernard Mâche

François-Bernard Mâche is a French composer of contemporary music. Born into a family of musicians, he is a former student of Émile Passani and Olivier Messiaen and has also received a diploma in Greek archaeology and a teaching certificate...

, Graciane Finzi

Graciane Finzi

-Life:Graciane Finzi was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and studied music at the Casablanca Conservatory then managed by Georges Friboulet, where her parents were teachers. She entered the Paris Conservatory at age ten, where she studied piano with Joseph Benvenuti and developed an interest in...

, Stephen Montague

Stephen Montague

Stephen Montague is a composer who grew up in West Virginia and Florida.-Education:After studying piano, conducting and composition at Florida State University B.M 1965 with Honors, M.M 1967, he received a doctorate in composition from Ohio State University in 1972...

, Yves Prin

Yves Prin

Yves Prin is a French composer and conductor of classical music.-Life:He studied piano with Yves Nat and conducting with Louis Fourestier at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where he won several first prizes....

, Tomás Marco

Tomás Marco

Tomás Marco Aragón is a Spanish composer and writer on music.-Life and work:Marco studied violin and composition in Madrid while at the same time pursuing the study of law...

, Cristobal Halffter

Cristóbal Halffter

Cristóbal Halffter Jiménez-Encina is a Spanish composer. He is the nephew of two other composers, Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter.-Life:...

, Mauricio Sotelo

Mauricio Sotelo

Mauricio Sotelo , is a Spanish composer.He started his musical studies at the conservatory of Madrid, before moving to Vienna to study composition with Francis Burt at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Wien...

, Grant McLachlan, Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...

, Marius Constant

Marius Constant

Marius Constant was a Romanian-born French composer and conductor. Known primarily for his television soundtracks, his most widely heard score was the iconic Twilight Zone theme song....

, Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...

, Luc Ferrari

Luc Ferrari

Luc Ferrari was of an Italian heritage but French born composer, particularly noted for his tape music.-Biography:...

, André Boucourechliev

André Boucourechliev

André Boucourechliev was a French composer of Bulgarian origin.Born in Sofia, Boucourechliev studied piano at the Conservatory there. Subsequently he studied in Paris at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he later taught piano...

, Aldo Clementi

Aldo Clementi

-Life:Aldo Clementi was born in Catania, Italy. He studied the piano, graduating in 1946. His studies in composition began in 1941, and his teachers included Alfredo Sangiorgi and Goffredo Petrassi. After receiving his diploma in 1954, he attended the Darmstadt summer courses from 1955 to 1962...

, Roberto Carnevale

Roberto Carnevale

Roberto Carnevale is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Biography and career :Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena...

, Betsy Jolas

Betsy Jolas

Betsy Jolas is a French composer.Betsy Jolas was born in Paris. Resident in the United States from 1940 until 1946, she studied composition with Paul Boepple and piano with Helen Schnabel. On her return to France she continued her studies with Simone Plé-Caussade, Darius Milhaud and Olivier...

, François-Bernard Mâche

François-Bernard Mâche

François-Bernard Mâche is a French composer of contemporary music. Born into a family of musicians, he is a former student of Émile Passani and Olivier Messiaen and has also received a diploma in Greek archaeology and a teaching certificate...

, Joseph Horovitz

Joseph Horovitz

Joseph Horovitz is a British composer and conductor. Horovitz's family emigrated to England in 1938. He studied music and modern languages at New College, Oxford, and later attended the Royal College of Music in London, studying composition with Gordon Jacob. He then undertook a year of further...

, Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....

, Roberto Sierra

Roberto Sierra

Roberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany...

, Krzystof Knittel, Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...

, Gustavo Beytelmann, Jean Wiener

Jean Wiener

Jean Wiener was a French pianist and composer.- Life :Wiener was trained at the Conservatoire in Paris, where he studied alongside Darius Milhaud, and worked with Erik Satie. He then embarked on a career as concert impresario, composer and pianist...

, Krzysztof Meyer

Krzysztof Meyer

Krzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist and music scholar.-Biography:Meyer was born in Cracow. As a boy he played piano and organ. He began his composition study early – in 1954, with Stanisław Wiechowicz...

, and Dimitri Yanov-Yanovski.

While she is known particularly for her performance of new music, she also plays early music

Early music

Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...

 in her concerts, as well as in some of her recordings.

In performance, she generally performs with her harpsichord slightly amplified.

She formerly taught at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg in Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, beginning in 1995.

She has performed and recorded with the Xenakis Ensemble

Xenakis Ensemble

The Xenakis Ensemble is a Dutch ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Based in Middelburg, it is known as one of the few ensembles specializing in the works of the composer Iannis Xenakis...

. She won the Grand Prix du Disque for Modern Music

Grand Prix du Disque for Modern Music

The Grand Prix du Disque for Modern Music is awarded by L'Académie Charles Cros of France.The following is a partial list of winners :-2002:*Ensemble Modern conducted by D...

in 2003, for her recording of works by Maurice Ohana.

Discography

• Ohana harpsichord / Ohana - Clavecin
• Energy
• Plus que Tango
• Scott Joplin
• Energy Plus
• Poulenc
• Xénakis
• Ohana
• Rhythm Plus
• Clavecin espagnol du XXème Siècle
• Clavecin 2000
• L'avant-garde du passé
• Le nouveau clavecin
• Clavecin d'aujourd'hui