composer

Przybylo, Philip

Philip Przybylo is a composer and producer of Polish descent, born in Ottawa (Canada) in 2000, he moved to Amsterdam to pursue his bachelors and masters degrees in composition at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2018. As a composer of concert music, Philip has written many works ranging from chamber pieces to electroacoustic works, orchestral compositions and multidisciplinary collaborations.

In recent years Philip’s compositions have been characterized by experiments in microtonality and just intonation, drone music and hyper-minimalism as well as a synthesis between the heavier and harsher side of electronic music and instrumental sensitivities. References from literature and intertextual links to others music feature as a parallel constant trend in his work. In many recent pieces, material is approached through a Burroughsian method, where archives of material become cut-up, recontextualized or translated (often through electronic means). These compositions explore artifacts that originate from methods such as feedback or data translation (through software such as Orchidea or MaxMsp) as well as multi-layered structures and algorithmic writing. This shift has been in large part inspired by Philip’s appreciation of postmodern writers such as J. L. Borges, T. Pynchon and J.G. Ballard. Philip is also a prolific electronic music producer and performer as well as co-founder of Anekumena Tapes, an experimental label he leads with Arieh Chrem aka Cartopol. As a duo, they also perform and release music under the name SpaLtd. 

Philip has studied with his mentor Simon Bertrand while in high school in Canada. In 2018 he moved to Amsterdam where he studied in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam for 6 years with Richard Ayres, Wim Henderickx, Jorrit Tamminga, Willem Jeths, Maya Verlaak and Thanasis Deligiannis.

Philip’s official debut as a composer happened in the summer of 2017 when his “Sonnet for violin and orchestra” was performed by the Orchestre de la Francophonie and his “Spectres Errants”, a vocalise for mezzo soprano and cello, got premiered at the “Music and Beyond” festival in Ottawa. Both of these early works were heavily inspired by the music of Claude Vivier. The following year as he was moving to Europe he wrote “…ad Infinitum…” a series of miniatures for two flutes as well as “Sonata for solo viola”, his first composition that used microtones and scordatura of the open strings to achieve them. In 2019 came two pieces “W Klepsydrze” for cello, vibraphone and harp and “Ameba” for piano and large ensemble. Both of these pieces were written with the double-layered technique pioneered by polish composer Paweł Szymański. For the following years Philip focused on electronic music and returned in 2022 with “Meduza” for string trio and electronics, which earned him the Tera de Marez Oyens Award. In 2025 he wrote three pieces: “bloodshot mangroves. starved reeds” for the bass clarinetist Fie Schouten and the Basklarinet Festijn, “O Czasie, Twe Piramidy” for Antek Cholewiński, Fabian Campuzano and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t-Ij and “The Wind Between Places .2” for the Orkest de Ereprijs, which consists of two extremely short miniatures. Philip also regularly collaborates with choreographer and theater maker Hayden Bouvet.

Philip’s has been awarded winner of the Tera de Marenz Oyens Competition during the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht 2024. He has subsequently won the second place in the Chamber category of the SOCAN Foundation Young Canadian Composers Award in 2024 as well as the first place in the solo-duo category the following year.

Philip has produced electronic music under a variety of now retired aliases, his most recent and mature work is now being released under the name "Where Birds go to Die". He co-runs the label "Anekumena Tapes" with fellow composer and producer Arie Chrem aka Cartopol. The label releases a variety of experimental projects, notably music from the polish noise scene, dutch experimental club music as well as occasionally punk and instrumental records.