Tomasz Kulikowski was born in 1957 in Wrocław. In 1976 he graduated in organ from the Secondary Music School under professor Klemens Kamiński and in the same year started studies in composition under professor Tadeusz Natanson at the State Higher Music School in Wrocław, which he graduated from in 1981.

Then he worked in the Secondary Music Schools in Legnica and Wrocław, as a accompanist in the Youth Centre of Culture Wrocław-Krzyki and as an organist. Since 1989 he has been a lecturer at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. Tomasz Kulikowski’s interest in polyphonic music has a significant influence on the texture of his works – a specific kind of stylistic idiom is created. The musical language undergoes slow changes – from German constructivism (J.S. Bach, J. Brahms, M. Reger, P. Hindemith, A. Berg) to Romance freedom in shaping the sound matter (C. Debussy, M. Ravel, G. Fauré, F. Poulenc, O. Messiaen). Most of his works are chamber and organ compositions. Among orchestral works there are: a pastiche Suita Mikołajowa [Nicolas’ Suite] (1996), Capriccio for orchestra (1999), Concerto for harpsichord and chamber orchestra (2003), Poem for piano and orchestra (2011) and Jesienna opowieść [Autumn story] for chamber orchestra (2014). Tomasz Kulikowski is also the author of papers on modal harmony, the style of liturgical accompaniment and the possibility of using modern composer’s techniques in this kind of accompaniment.