Piotr Szewczyk
For 9/22/13:
Currently a doctoral candidate in Violin Performance at FSU, Polish-born violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk(b. 1977) studied composition and violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, earning BM and MM degrees and the Artist's Diploma. He then received a fellowship at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach where he served as rotating concertmaster under Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas. The winner of the 2006 New World Symphony Concerto competition, Mr. Szewczyk has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, and he has given solo and chamber recitals in the United States, Poland, Germany and Austria. His own award-winning compositions have been performed by a wide variety of orchestral and chamber ensembles in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Szewczyk’s string quintet, The Rebel, was performed live on the CBS Early Show by the Sybarite Chamber Players, and was also featured on NPR's Performance Today. Piotr joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in September 2007, and in 2008 he won a commission from the Symphony by placing first in its Fresh Ink composition competition. The resulting piece, First Coast Fanfare, was premiered by the Jacksonville Symphony during the 2009-2010 season. Szewczyk composedConvergence in 2010 especially for Alexei Romanenko, who is presenting the world-premiere performance of the piece during today's concert.
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Polish-born violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk (b. 1977) joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 2007. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, and performs frequently in solo and chamber recitals, including appearances in the United States, Poland, Germany and Austria. Szewczyk's works have won a number of national and international composition prizes, including the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 Fresh Ink competition, and his music has been featured on the CBS Early Show and NPR's Performance Today. The elegiac Rebirth of Hope was composed in 2005 in response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which, on December 26, 2004, claimed the lives of over 230,000 people in 14 countries, making it among the worst natural disasters in recorded history.
Rebirth of Hope (EXCERPT) on YouTube
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The winner of the 2006 New World Symphony Concerto Competition, violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 2007, and has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles including the Lima Symphony, New World Symphony, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Queen City Virtuosi, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. He performs frequently in solo and chamber recitals, including appearances in the United States, Poland, Germany and Austria, often premiering works written for him for an ongoing project he initiated called Violin Futura. Among these was a February 2008 recital given as part of the Music @ Main series, and other appearances at the Library have included collaborations with fellow Jacksonville Symphony violinists Andy Bruck and Max Huls, and an evening of Polish music with pianist Christine Clark.
Musical compositions by Piotr Szewczyk (b. 1977) have won a number of international composition contests, and have been featured on NPR and at the American Symphony Orchestra League Conference in Nashville. His music has been performed by numerous orchestral and chamber ensembles, and his recently published string quintet, The Rebel, was performed live on the CBS Early Show by the Sybarite Chamber Players, and was also featured this January on NPR's Performance Today. Mr. Szewczyk is the winner of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 Fresh Ink composition competition, with a commission to write a new piece for their 2009-2010 season, entitled First Coast Fanfare.
VIOLIN FUTURA is an ongoing venture conceived and realized by Piotr Szewczyk. The violinist explains, "I created the project because I wanted to expand the contemporary violin repertoire with pieces that are fun to play and to listen to, and they bring something new and unique to the repertoire." It began with a recital of 15 solo pieces written especially for Mr. Szewczyk by composers from around the globe which he has performed at various festivals and venues in the United States and Europe.
To hear MP3 recordings of the original 15 pieces featured in Violin Futura, please visit http://www.violinfutura.com/.
Cadenza I
All-Wheel Drive
--Music @ Main, February 5, 2008 (Piotr Szewczyk: Violin Futura)
First Coast Groove (World Premiere)(solo)
Conundrum II (trio)
--Music @ Main, April 10, 2008 (Violin Futura: Trio Duo Solo)
Two Movements (1998)
Written during his sophomore year of college, Piotr Szewczyk's Two Movements was his first composition for violin and piano, and even though it is an early work, it, like the early works of Penderecki and Gorecki on this program, already demonstrates elements of the composer's later style. When commenting on the piece the composer observed, "It has a youthful eagerness, energy, virtuosity and sincerity. The First Movement starts with a slow introduction and gradually progresses through different tempos and moods to finally dissolve. The Second Movement is a crazy, fast, twisted rondo, full of energy, surprising twists and turns--never letting go to the very end.”
--Music @ Main, December 8, 2008 (Piotr Szewczyk, violin & Christine Clark, piano)
The Moon Goddess
According to the composer, "The Moon Goddess is a short, rhapsodic piece that musically depicts an elation evoked by an encounter with a beautiful creature. It begins with a slow, gentle section which develops into a powerful and emotional climax in extremely high registers for both instruments and dissipates into a transformed opening theme."
--Music @ Main, May 12, 2009 (VnC Duo)