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Women in Polish music

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Portrait of Maria Szymanowska and Grażyna Bacewicz
Saturday, 10/19/2024 19:30 HfMT, Mendelssohn-Saal

Maria Szymanowska (1789 - 1831), piano virtuoso and composer, was the first Polish professional musician in Europe. She played for the royal court in Berlin and London, in Weimar for Goethe, who dedicated the poem "Reconciliation" to her, performed at the Congress of Vienna (1815) and made guest appearances in Dresden, Vienna, London, Paris and St. Petersburg.
From 1823 to 1827, she toured throughout Europe: Germany, England, France, Switzerland, Italy and Russia, setting musical milestones in the cultural life of several countries.
She was not only a wonderful pianist, but also, as we say today, an efficient businesswoman: she planned and organized concerts, took care of the publication of her own works with well-known publishers, and made and cultivated contacts that were important for her career as a pianist.
Maria Szymanowska was probably also the first pianist to perform her pieces from memory in concert.



Grażyna Bacewicz (1909 - 1969) was both an outstanding violinist and composer and also played the piano excellently. A scholarship from the legendary I. J. Paderewski enabled her to study composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. She performed regularly as a violinist in Poland and other European countries.
During the horrific years of the Second World War, she composed several hours a day and performed at the underground concerts she helped to organize.
Unfortunately, many manuscripts of her works were destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
Through her concert activities, she made a major contribution to the dissemination of Polish music and also presented her own works to an international audience. From 1955 she retired from performing, composed, taught and was also a jury member at prestigious international violin competitions.
She is the most important Polish composer of the 20th century with an international reputation. Bacewicz left behind an exceptionally large oeuvre of around 200 works, mainly for strings (including 7 violin concertos and 7 string quartets). Her orchestration was masterful and her creativity, versatility and uncompromising nature made her a role model for later female composers. "There is no aspect of music that she did not...enrich..."
One of the critics who reviewed her Concerto for Strings wrote that a man must have composed under a female pseudonym. The concert program includes works by Szymanowska and Bacewicz as well as compositions by other Polish musical greats of the 19th and 20th centuries in harmony with interesting facts from the lives of these personalities.


The performers are excellent artists from Culture Connects:


Elizaveta Don - piano
Vlada Shchavinska - soprano
Eduard Don - clarinet


Medeina Quintett from the HMTM Hannover:


Nina Klemenčič - flute
Simona Strohmenger - oboe
Carlo Righetti - clarinet
Adam Rechav - bassoon
Elena Uyukina - horn


Roman Ohem - Moderation

Eintritt: 15,00 EUR
Ermäßigt: 10,00 EUR

Advance booking and ticket reservations at: karten@culture-connects.de and at the box office.

Eine Veranstaltung vom Förderverein Culture Connects e.V. Hamburg.

Gefördert von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien sowie dem Generalkonsulat der Republik Polen in Hamburg.