Biography (long)
Composer and conductor Michael Ostrzyga was commissioned by Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting), World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 in Turkey as well as 2020 in Auckland, NZ, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kammerchor Stuttgart and director Frieder Bernius, Finnish YL Male Voice Choir (Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat), Latvian Youth Choir „Kamēr…“, via-nova-chor Munich, StimmGold Vokalensemble (Regensburg, Bavaria), and Chamber Choir Consono, to name a few. He draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including natural, technological, astronomical, historical, mythological and pop-cultural phenomena and contexts. In 2025, his choral work was honored with the highly acclaimed Chorpreis der GEMA-Stiftung (GEMA Foundation’s Choral Prize), which recognizes outstanding achievements only once every four years.
His works are performed by ensembles like Rheinisches Klavierduo, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Rundfunkchor Berlin, MDR-Rundfunkchor, Chorwerk Ruhr, New Dublin Voices, Australian Chamber Choir, The Esoterics (USA), and the Swedish choirs Kammarkören Pro Musica, Allmänna Sången and S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble, as well as musicians like pianists Yin Chiang, Klaus Oldemeyer, Christoph Schnackertz and Thomas Stumpf, organists Martin Herchenröder and Johannes Geffert. His full-length Oratorio „Puer natus est“ (2017) for soloists, chorus and large orchestra, libretto by Winfried Böhm, was hailed as „a resounding success“ by Bavarian Broadcasting. His compositions are published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Bärenreiter, Carus and Helbling. As music theorist he specialized in composition in historical styles and instrumentation. Ostrzyga presented a completion of Mozart’s Requiem fragment that, for the first time, combines musicological perspectives with historically informed music theory and practice in composition, arrangement and instrumentation. Published by Bärenreiter in 2022, the edition immediately became a bestseller and is now, after the traditional completion by Franz Xaver Süßmayr, among the most frequently performed completions of the Requiem internationally. The completion has been performed widely around the world, including by the Zürcher Sing-Akademie and Freiburger Barockorchester. Three commercial recordings have been made with Chorwerk Ruhr and Concerto Köln under Florian Helgath for Coviello Classics, the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne under John Nelson for ICA Classics, and the RIAS Kammerchor and Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Yannick Nézet-Séguin for Deutsche Grammophon. A fourth commercial recording will follow in 2027 with Coro Casa da Música and Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música under Léo Warynski for the French label Aparté. The first of these recordings was nominated for an Opus Klassik in 2021 in the category “Editorial Achievement of the Year”.
Ostrzyga serves as Music Director at the University of Cologne, where he is head of the Collegium musicum, an organization housing the university’s major musical ensembles. As conductor of orchestras and choirs, he has appeared in concerts in the Cologne area, as well as abroad. Developing partnerships with organizations and creative artists of all kinds and launching the concert series Universitätskonzerte when he took his duties in 2008, he firmly established the Collegium musicum as an important and acclaimed cultural institution.
He was conductor and artistic director of the Oratorienchor Brühl from 2007 to 2019. As a guest conductor, he collaborated with ensembles like Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Bochumer Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Musikfabrik, and Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester. He regularly works with the Kölner Vokalsolisten and their founder Fabian Hemmelmann. He served as chorus master for, among others, Pablo Heras-Casado (Luciano Berios „Passagio", with ensemble intercontemporain) and Duncan Ward (Manfred Trojahns „Les dentelles de Montmirail", with Ensemble modern). Commissioned by the Gürzenich Orchester Köln, he assembled the Bürgerchor Köln in 2022 and served as its chorus master in the following years. He appeared in festivals like Brühler Schlosskonzerte and Acht Brücken, conducting for instance vocal works by Ligeti and Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel. Together with Martin Herchenröder, he served as artistic director of the George Crumb Festival NRW in 2009. As a formerly active pianist and organist, he co-founded the chamber music ensemble Sforzato presenting concerts combining music of all eras and genres. Throughout all of these various positions, he has regularly commissioned, prepared and/or premiered numerous new works by composers such as Martin Herchenröder, Friedrich Jaecker, Jan Masanetz, Marcus Schmickler, Anno Schreier, and Manfred Trojahn.
Ostrzyga has been President of the Netzwerk Universitätsmusik in Deutschland since its founding in February 2024.
Ostrzyga was initially trained (piano, organ, choral conducting) by Bruno Zaremba before studying conducting with renowned conductor Marcus Creed, music theory/composition with Friedrich Jaecker, and piano with Peter Degenhardt, graduating in 2005.
