Grażyna Bacewicz: Bringing Her Music Back
I am a young conductor, studying with Marin Alsop at the Peabody Institute of Music of The Johns Hopkins University. I believe that Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969, Gra-zhi-na Bat-se-veech) , Poland's foremost female composer, is one of the greatest composers the world has all but forgotten. Through my experience conducting and programming for orchestras, I have come to love Bacewicz's music more than that of nearly any other composer. It has a rhythmic vitality, harmonic freshness, and formal clarity I haven't seen consistently in the work of many other people.
In collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, I am embarking on an ambitious and multi-faceted project to revitalize Bacewicz's music and spark newfound interest in this phenomenal composer.
At the helm of the project, I will be conducting a pair of concerts composed of Bacewicz's music, with orchestras made up of my friends and colleagues at Peabody. The first concert, in October 2021, will feature three of Bacewicz's works for string orchestra (and friends):
- Divertimento for String Orchestra
- Symphony for String Orchestra (North American premiere)
- Music for Strings, Trumpets, and Percussion
The second concert, in February 2022, will be made up of the American premieres of several more works by Bacewicz:
- Concerto for Large Symphony Orchestra (North American premiere)
- Variations for Orchestra (North American premiere)
- Musica Sinfonica in Tre Movimenti
- In Una Parte (North American premiere)
- Symphony no. 2 (North American premiere)
A major goal of this project is to produce recordings of these works, and it is important to me that they be made available to the public for free, hosted on streaming services like YouTube. Additionally, both concerts will be live-streamed, again for free. To make this possible, I need your help! Such landmark performances of such fantastic, complex music deserve a contingent of extremely talented artists. Your contributions will go directly toward renting the sheet music and hiring a team of fantastic instrumentalists, videographers, and audio engineers to bring Bacewicz's beautiful music to life. I am hoping to get your support for the October concert; any additional funds raised will roll over to help with the February performance.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to head such an important project, as I truly believe the world will come to love her music as much as I do. I hope you will join me in Bringing Bacewicz Back!
If you wish to write to me for any reason, please do so at https://www.stern-reuben.com/contact
To learn more about Grażyna Bacewicz and her incredible life and works, I suggest checking out https://bacewicz.polmic.pl/en/
