Guest Artist Piotr Szewczyk, violinist/composer

Guest Artist Recital
Monday, May 7, 2007
7:30 p.m., Phillips Recital Hall
Haas Fine Arts Center
UW-Eau Claire

Violin Master Class
Monday, May 7, 2007
4:00 p.m., Phillips Recital Hall

Composition Master Class
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
4:00 p.m., Phillips Recital Hall

All Events Free & Open to the Public

Sponsored by the Office of Research and Scholarly Projects and the Music & Theatre Arts Department String Division.

Violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk was born in Poland in 1977.  He is currently a violin fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where he plays under Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas.

As a violin soloist and leader, Piotr has won international competitions, performed as a soloist with the Lima Symphony, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Queen City Virtuosi, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, CCM Concert Orchestra and others, and led the New World Symphony, CCM Philharmonia, Concert, Chamber, I.N.T.Y. Contemporary Orchestra, and others.  Described as a “mature virtuoso”,“gifted violinist with remarkable facility” and as a“superb violinist” and “an excellent young violinist with a beautiful musical taste” Szewczyk has given solo and chamber recitals in the USA, Poland, Germany and Austria. Chamber music groups he’s played in include the FAZA String Quartet, Roggero Trio and Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and has been featured in the New World Symphony Chamber Music Series, Xchange concerts and Musican’s Forum concerts.

As a composer, Mr. Szewczyk’s music, described in words of Michael Tilson Thomas, “is filled with energy, melody and sophisticated sense of harmony that is his own” has been performed by ALIAS Ensemble, Degas Quartet, Quarteto Latinoamericano, ACCORD Quartet, INTY Contemporary Orchestra, Young Musican’s Orchestra of Miami, CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Queen City Virtuosi, members of the New World Symphony and many others. Mr Szewczyk’s music gets praise for “a particularly unusual beauty of sound, an elegance of approach, a highly-developed sense of rhythm, and a sure sense of structure”, “a clarity of expression and strong personal voice”and “sophisticated and unique compositional voice”. Recently Mr. Szewczyk’s award-winning string quartet Half-Diminished Scherzo has been performed live on the NPR radio by the ALIAS Ensemble in Nashville.

Piotr Szewczyk received numerous composition awards including Winner of the 2004 University of Cincinnati Orchestral Composition Competition, Second Prize at the 2004 ACCENT Composition Competition at the MUSIC X New Music Festival in Cincinnati, 1st Prize Winner – 2003 Composition Competition UPBEAT-Hvar in Hvar, Croatia, Winner – 2005 Vox Novus 60x60 Project. Mr Szewczyk’s solo violin piece CADENZA I has been chosen as the compulsory contemporary work for the UPBEAT-Hvar violin competition.

Piotr Szewczyk studied violin and composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he earned degrees of BM, MM and AD, studying composition with Darrel Handel, Joel Hoffman, Henry Gwiazda, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Michael Fiday and violin with Kurt Sassmannshaus, Piotr Milewski and Dorothy Delay. Piotr has created new solo violin music project: Violin Futura www.ViolinFutura.com

Piotr Szewczyk is a member of ASCAP. Learn more about Piotr at: piotr@verynewmusic.com

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For More Information Contact: 
Nobu Yasuda
152 Haas Fine Arts Center
Music & Theatre Arts Department
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004

Phone: 715/836-2181
Email: yasudan@uwec.edu

Or

Ethan Wickman
131 Haas Fine Arts Center
Music & Theatre Arts Department
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004

Phone: 715/836-4172
Email: wickmaef@uwec.edu