Composer, piano improviser, teacher, music life organiser and activist, born in 1959 in Lublin. He studied composition with Tadeusz Baird and Marian Borkowski at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy (now University) of Music in Warsaw, and with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. As an interdisciplinary artist, he creates music in many genres. His compositions have been performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists in several dozen countries, and released under labels such as BBC Music, Signum Classic, Polskie Nagrania, Acte Préalable, the Rozdroża Centre for International Creative Initiatives, Polish Music Information Centre, and ANAKLASIS. His works have received a recommendation at the International Rostrum of Composers, nominations for the Opus Music Prize and the Musica Nova award. Kornowicz was the initiator of Mud Cavaliers improvised music group, with which he has given performances in many countries. 

Jerzy Kornowicz has co-created and programmed many musical events, including the Audio-Art festival in Warsaw (main organiser), the Generations concert series and the Academy of Sound, a cycle of concerts in Warsaw’s schools (initiator and coordinator). He has authored a programme of music events for SKiE schools in Warsaw, initiated and organised annual free improvisation workshops (All-Polish New and Used Sounds Collection Point), co-founded and directed (until 2024) the KODY Festival of Traditional and Avant-Garde Music in Lublin. In 2003–15 he served as President of the Polish Composers’ Union. He has initiated legal and organisational solutions for the social dissemination of music. He is a founding member of the ECSA European Composer and Songwriter Alliance in Brussels as well as the Creative Poland Association of Polish artistic communities and creative industries, of which he is also the president. He has served as director of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music since 2017. 

Major works (since 1995): Puzzler for chamber orchestra (1995), Things Constantly Spinning for violin (1996), Rollingsong for saxophone quartet (1997), Metanoia for harpsichord and tape (1998), Interwoven Figures for chamber orchestra (1998–99), Four Poems to Texts by Czesław Miłosz for voice and piano (2000), Shapes of Elements for harpsichord and sounds of nature (2000), Awaiting for mixed choir (2000), Accumulations for piano quintet (2001), Renesis for sounds of nature (2001), Spells for mixed choir (2001), Shine for violin and piano (2001), Purple Ribbon (In the Claws of the Waltz) for piano (2002), Four Streams for strings (2003), Dawns I – Prague for symphony orchestra (2004), Dawns II – Ereprijs for chamber orchestra (2004-5), Dawns III – Weltblech for brass band and percussion (2005), Dawns IV – Melos-Ethos for 15 performers (2006), Scenes from Infinity for vocal ensemble, instrumental ensemble and live electronics (2006), Pile-Ups for orchestra (2007), Two Songs to Texts of Chopin’s Songs for soprano and piano (2010), Scenes from Bulgakov for chamber orchestra and improvising computer (2010), Scenes from Bulgakov – Minsk for chamber orchestra and tape (2011), Bells of Nielisz for two pianos (2011), Bells of Saint-Acheul for two pianos and sampler (2012), The Hour of Metamorphoses – Echo, King Midas and the Swans, a “musical expedition” after Ovid’s Metamorphoses as translated by Anna Kamieńska (2012), Silence of Sounds – Towards Sz. E. for piano and electronics (2013), Things Constantly Spinning for two violas (2013), OTO for piano (2013), The Big Crossing. Icons for piano and other concertante instruments and symphony orchestra (2013), Great Spinning for big band and soloists (2014), Least Probable Story, an opera in three acts and 11 spaces for the young audience (2015), Extremes for 11 performers (2016), Two Pieces for piano quintet (2016), Two Spaces for two violins and string orchestra (2016), Epigrams for two flutes and string orchestra (2016–17), Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a musical expedition after Jules Verne (2017), Scenes from Witkacy for string orchestra, ethnic instruments and spoken words (2017), Murals for violin and symphony orchestra (2019), Spindles for harpsichord and chamber orchestra (2019), Window for string orchestra (2020), Transfigurations – Liturgical Scenes for ensemble and electronics (2021), Massifs for two flutists and symphony orchestra (2023), Family Album, chamber opera for two soloists, string orchestra and video projections to a libretto by Michał Rusinek (2023); music for theatrical plays, ca. 30 concert projects with the Mud Cavaliers ensemble.