Between 1950 and 1954, he studied classical piano under Henryk Sztompka and composition under Stanisław Wiechowicz at the Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Muzyczna in Kraków.

[2] In 1954, by invitation of Władysław Szpilman, Kurylewicz accepted a full-time position at the Polish Radio in Kraków and found his own ensemble, Sekstet Organowy Polskiego Radia.

In 1958, he married the singer Wanda Warska and wrote his Opus 1 for piano solo, Somnambulicy and film music for Ostatni Strzał.

The following year, he made his debut as a theatre music composer with Książę Niezłomny by Juliusz Słowacki and directed by Mieczysław Kotlarczyk.

[4] From 1970 onwards, Kurylewicz mainly composed classical music: solo instrumental works (for example Piano Crumbs for piano, Impromptu avec Romarin for harpsichord, Due Pezzi Semplici for organ, Drzeworyt I and II for flute, Moods for double bass and Tubesque for tuba); sacred music (Missa Brevis, Te Deum, Five Psalms after the Roman Missal, Ave Maris Stella, Ave Maria); chamber works (String Quartets I, II, III and IV, String Trio Dormitina and three piano trios Trio per Tre, Tango Rubio, El Dancion Sentimental); piano quintets (Gabriela, Larghetto Kamienie Staromiejskie) and brass trios and quintets.

Kurylewicz wrote congenial song cycles set to the poems of Jan Kochanowski, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stefan Garczyński, Alexander Pushkin, Reiner Maria Rilke, Osip Mandelstam, Czesław Miłosz, Halina Poświatowska, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Stanisław Grochowiak, Zbigniew Herbert, Carmina Burana, German baroque poets, Julia Hartwig, Ludmiła Marjańska, Gabriela Kurylewicz and lyrics by Wanda Warska and Agnieszka Osiecka.