Rafał Zapała  (1975 - 2025) composer, sound artist, improviser  /piano, drums, electronics/, post-doctorate degree (habilitation) – composition, associate professor at Academy of Music in Poznan, Holder of the Fulbright Senior Award 2021 scholarship. Zapała does not recognize any boundaries between music acquired through academic education, experience of the counterculture and collaborating with artists from other fields of art. His music was presented at contemporary music festivals, jazz clubs, experimental music venues and open, public spaces.

Graduated: composition (MA, PhD, habilitation) and conducting (MA). Masterclasses: K.Stockhausen Concerts and Courses, Acanthes Courses (with IRCAM, T.Murail and B.Furrer), Darmstadt Summer Courses, workshop with Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Lucier (STEIM Amsterdam), Z. Karkowski and other.

Artist-in-residence at Stanford University–CCRMA, Culture Center „Zamek”, Swiętokrzyska Philharmonic (2014/2015), ZK/U Berlin ( 2016/17), Vertigo STARTS (2019), UC Berkeley (CNMAT) and other. Head of Kołorking Muzyczny (Music Workshop). Founder and head of an_ARCHE NewMusicFoundation and many ensembles (contemporary, improvised, electronic music). His concept of Live Electronic Preparation (LEP Technique) was published at Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio (Oxford University Press, 2014).