by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Being as a rule creative, dynamic people, musicians in symphony orchestras usually have something they do outside the concert hall with the same dedication they put toward what they do inside the concert hall.
Also, as a rule, musicians in symphony orchestras realize early in their careers that being a musician in a symphony orchestra won’t get their name in Forbes magazine unless it’s on the mailing label.
Many symphony musicians also teach private or group lessons. Some teach in public or private schools. Others perform at weddings or corporate events or in the lobbies of grand hotels. Some have been known to sell real estate.
Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra violinist Piotr Szewczyk doesn’t teach lessons or teach music classes or sell real estate. He might perform at a wedding, corporate event or in the lobby of a grand hotel, but only if the situation called for cutting-edge contemporary compositions for solo violin.
Szewczyk said he has been surrounded by music since the day he was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father played French horn in the Warsaw National Opera and his mother was a pianist and professor at the Chopin Academy
“My mother taught me to sing as soon as I could talk so she could tell if I had a good ear,” he said. “By the time I was 5 years old, I was singing on Polish TV. It was a show similar to ‘Sesame Street’ and I was on every day at 8 a.m.”
By the time he was 7 years old, he had tried the French horn, the piano, the cello and the violin. It was that instrument that brought him to America and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he earned both his undergraduate music degree and a master’s degree in music.
His foray into contemporary music is called “Violin Futura.” It’s comprised of 18 compositions that were all written for Szewczyk and he said he uses his performance to change people’s perception of contemporary music.
“They are all short pieces,” he said. “Sometimes people think of contemporary music as a 20-minute long piece that is torture for the performer and for the audience. The current trend is for composers to write more conventional melodic pieces and nothing in ‘Violin Futura’ is more than four minutes long. In that sense they are more like pop songs than classical compositions.”
Szewczyk also said the compositions were written specifically for the project, either by him or other composers.
Audiences for “Violin Futura” have ranged from the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C. to the Sante Fe (New Mexico) New Music Festival to venues closer to home like the concert series at the Main Library. Szewczyk has already booked dates at the University of North Florida and Flagler College in St. Augustine and he will be touring Germany to perform three concerts later this year.
In addition to his artist fee and travel expenses, he is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Every time he performs a piece of music or it’s used in any commercial fashion, the composer receives a royalty.
Besides the joy of performing and the reward of additional income, contemporary music also helps Szewczyk be a better symphony musician.
“It’s so different from Bach and Beethoven. It keeps me fresh musically and pushes me into something new.
“In general contemporary music requires different techniques that weren’t used before the 20th century. The music can be much more challenging rhythmically. The composers are free to do whatever they want short of destroying the instrument,” he said.
Szewczyk maintains a Web site with mp3 downloads, www.violinfutura.com as well as a YouTube page that includes a documentary about “Violin Futura” and a clip of his early career on television in Poland.