Lawrence Gwozdz
Encyclopedia
Lawrence S. Gwozdz is an internationally renowned American
saxophonist in the classical tradition. His artistic sensibilities have made him a champion of a broad array of compositions, from Baroque
transcriptions
to contemporary music.
, New York
, Gwozdz achieved an international reputation for his success in revealing the qualities inherent in the classic saxophone
as intended originally by its inventor, Adolphe Sax
. He was a pupil and long time friend of saxophone pioneer Sigurd Raschèr
.
Gwozdz's concerts have included major cities in Asia, Europe and North America: Beijing
, Chicago
, Leipzig
, London
, Los Angeles
, Manchester
, Prague
, St. Louis
, Warsaw
, Zagreb
, Zurich
, and others. His festival appearances - the Yehudi Menuhin
Festival, the International Chamber Music Festival of Le Touquet
, Spoleto Festival USA
- have received critical acclaim. His performance with I Solisti di Zagreb motivated the press to write, "Gwozdz uses his instrument with superiority and virtuosity" (Vjesnik).
Gwozdz's Carnegie Hall
debut was described in Musical America
as an "extraordinary performance of contemporary music" with "the kind of timbre Adolphe Sax most likely had in mind ... always with subtlety and taste" (The New York Concert Review). On television
, Gwozdz appeared with famed organist Diane Bish
on The Joy of Music, and has performed concerti and recitals on radio for the Dame Myra Hess
series (Public Radio International
), Czech Radio-Prague, Croatian Radio, Minnesota Public Radio
, and other networks.
Gwozdz is active in promoting, performing, and recording contemporary music. Various composers - Samuel Adler
, Walter Hartley
, Zdenek Lukas
, Armand Russell
, Robert Starer
, Roger Vogel, John Worley
, and others - have dedicated new chamber works to him. Gwozdz has also premiered full saxophone concerto
s by American
composer
s Stephen Dankner, Alan Theisen, and Randall Snyder.
Having been born with spina bifida
, Gwozdz is also an advocate for arts for people with disabilities. Gwozdz is also known for his annotated translation of the book Das Saxophon by Jaap Kool from German into English. The book was published by Egon Publishers Ltd (Herts, England) in 1987.
On December 12, 2006 he won 7,300 dollars on the American game show Wheel of Fortune.
at The University of Southern Mississippi
, he established a studio that continues to receive worldwide attention. His students have performed by invitation in major cities, including performances at Washington's Kennedy Center) as soloists, quartets, and as the Sax-Chamber Orchestra.
Gwozdz's students have included:
as a concert medium for over twenty years. The S-CO has premiered several large works composed specifically for them, and have showcased these compositions at venues such as the World Saxophone Congress
. The ensemble, whose musicians are auditioned yearly, all play using mouthpieces constructed from Adolphe Sax
's original patents. The Sax-Chamber Orchestra comprises typical members of the saxophone family (soprano
, alto
, tenor
, baritone
) as well as the less common sopranino
and bass
saxophones.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
saxophonist in the classical tradition. His artistic sensibilities have made him a champion of a broad array of compositions, from Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
transcriptions
Transcription (music)
In music, transcription can mean notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated, as, for example, an improvised jazz solo. Further examples include ethnomusicological notation of oral traditions of folk music, such as Béla Bartók's and Ralph Vaughan Williams' collections of the national...
to contemporary music.
Biography
Born to Polish-American parents in Niagara FallsNiagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Gwozdz achieved an international reputation for his success in revealing the qualities inherent in the classic saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
as intended originally by its inventor, Adolphe Sax
Adolphe Sax
Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
. He was a pupil and long time friend of saxophone pioneer Sigurd Raschèr
Sigurd Raschèr
Sigurd Manfred Raschèr was an American saxophonist of German birth. He became one of the most important figures in the development of the 20th century repertoire for the classical saxophone.-Career in Europe:...
.
Gwozdz's concerts have included major cities in Asia, Europe and North America: Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, and others. His festival appearances - the Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
Festival, the International Chamber Music Festival of Le Touquet
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It has a population of 5,355....
, Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
- have received critical acclaim. His performance with I Solisti di Zagreb motivated the press to write, "Gwozdz uses his instrument with superiority and virtuosity" (Vjesnik).
Gwozdz's Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut was described in Musical America
Musical America
Musical America is the oldest American magazine on classical music. Presently it is a website with a weekly online magazine. It is currently published by UBM Global Trade.-History:...
as an "extraordinary performance of contemporary music" with "the kind of timbre Adolphe Sax most likely had in mind ... always with subtlety and taste" (The New York Concert Review). On television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, Gwozdz appeared with famed organist Diane Bish
Diane Bish
Diane Joyce Bish, born on May 25, 1941, in Kansas, is an organist and composer as well as executive producer of the Joy of Music television series. As a concert organist, she performs frequently at recitals throughout North America and Europe....
on The Joy of Music, and has performed concerti and recitals on radio for the Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
series (Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
), Czech Radio-Prague, Croatian Radio, Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio , is the flagship National Public Radio member network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, Classical Music and The Current, MPR operates a 42-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest serving over 8 million people...
, and other networks.
Gwozdz is active in promoting, performing, and recording contemporary music. Various composers - Samuel Adler
Samuel Adler (composer)
Samuel Hans Adler is an American composer and conductor.-Biography:Adler was born to a Jewish family in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Hugo Chaim Adler, a cantor and composer, and Selma Adler. The family fled to the United States in 1939, where Hugo became the cantor of Temple Emanuel in...
, Walter Hartley
Walter Hartley
Walter Sinclair Hartley is an American composer of contemporary music.-Biography and education:He was born in Washington, D.C., began composing at age five and became seriously dedicated to it at sixteen. All his college degrees are from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester....
, Zdenek Lukas
Zdenek Lukáš
Zdeněk Lukáš was a prolific Czech composer having composed over 330 works. He graduated from a teachers' college and worked as a teacher from 1953 to 1963...
, Armand Russell
Armand Russell
-Town politics:Russell served as City Councillor in 1949 and 1950 and as Mayor from 1950 to 1957 in Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford. He also served as Mayor of Waterloo, Quebec from 1957 to 1967.-Member of the legislature:...
, Robert Starer
Robert Starer
Robert Starer was an Austrian-born American composer and pianist.Robert Starer began studying the piano at age 4 and continued his studies at the Vienna State Academy...
, Roger Vogel, John Worley
John Worley
John C. Worley was a college professor, saxophonist, and a composer of classical, as well as more contemporary music for saxophone. He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1919 and died on February 16, 1999.-Education:...
, and others - have dedicated new chamber works to him. Gwozdz has also premiered full saxophone concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
s by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s Stephen Dankner, Alan Theisen, and Randall Snyder.
Having been born with spina bifida
Spina bifida
Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...
, Gwozdz is also an advocate for arts for people with disabilities. Gwozdz is also known for his annotated translation of the book Das Saxophon by Jaap Kool from German into English. The book was published by Egon Publishers Ltd (Herts, England) in 1987.
On December 12, 2006 he won 7,300 dollars on the American game show Wheel of Fortune.
Teaching career
As professor of saxophoneSaxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
at The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi, informally known as Southern Miss, is a large public research university located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States. It is situated north of Gulfport, Mississippi and northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana...
, he established a studio that continues to receive worldwide attention. His students have performed by invitation in major cities, including performances at Washington's Kennedy Center) as soloists, quartets, and as the Sax-Chamber Orchestra.
Gwozdz's students have included:
- Harry Kinross WhiteHarry White (saxophonist)Harry Kinross White is an American-born classical saxophonist living in Switzerland.White grew up in Mississippi and received his first music instruction there from Warren and Marti Lutz. He studied with saxophone professor Lawrence Gwozdz at The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg,...
- Alan Theisen
- Jonathan Bergeron
Sax-Chamber Orchestra
The Sax-Chamber Orchestra is a unique ensemble of eleven saxophonists founded by Gwozdz in the 1980s. Under Gwozdz's baton, they have been active in promoting the saxophoneSaxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
as a concert medium for over twenty years. The S-CO has premiered several large works composed specifically for them, and have showcased these compositions at venues such as the World Saxophone Congress
World Saxophone Congress
The World Saxophone Congress is a festival gathering approximately 1000 saxophonists and other musicians from all over the world. It is currently held every three years at a different congress centre in a different country and focuses primarily on the performance of classical saxophone music.The...
. The ensemble, whose musicians are auditioned yearly, all play using mouthpieces constructed from Adolphe Sax
Adolphe Sax
Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
's original patents. The Sax-Chamber Orchestra comprises typical members of the saxophone family (soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) as well as the less common sopranino
Sopranino saxophone
The sopranino saxophone is one of the smallest members of the saxophone family. A sopranino saxophone is tuned in the key of E, and sounds an octave above the alto saxophone. This saxophone has a sweet sound and although the sopranino is one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use...
and bass
Bass saxophone
The bass saxophone is the second largest member of the saxophone family. Its design is similar to that of the baritone saxophone, with a loop of tubing near the mouthpiece. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, when Adolphe Sax exhibited a bass saxophone in C at an exhibition...
saxophones.
Available Recordings
- Raschèr International
- An American Concerto: Tribute to Sigurd RaschèrSigurd RaschèrSigurd Manfred Raschèr was an American saxophonist of German birth. He became one of the most important figures in the development of the 20th century repertoire for the classical saxophone.-Career in Europe:...
(1999) (with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic) Albany RecordsAlbany RecordsAlbany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...
TROY 331 - Simply Gifts
- Hurricane (includes Stephen Dankner's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra) (with The Louisiana Philharmonic OrchestraLouisiana Philharmonic OrchestraThe Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The music director is Carlos Miguel Prieto....
) - Special Hand'ling (2001) (music by Handel arranged for saxophone, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
) Romeo RecordsRomeo RecordsRomeo Records was a record label based in the United States of America in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a subsidiary of Cameo Records, manufactured to be sold exclusively at the S. H. Kress & Co. department store chain...
http://www.romeorecords.com/home.htm 7216 - GlazunovAlexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
and Erland von KochErland von KochErland von Koch was a Swedish composer.-Life and career:Born in Stockholm as the son of composer Sigurd von Koch , Erland von Koch studied at the Stockholm Conservatory from 1931 to 1935 and subsequently passed the advanced choirmaster and organist examinations...
: Concerti (with the Plovdiv Philharmonic) - America Remembers (conducting the Sax-Chamber Orchestra)
- Parabolically Bach (conducting the Sax-Chamber Orchestra) Romeo RecordsRomeo RecordsRomeo Records was a record label based in the United States of America in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a subsidiary of Cameo Records, manufactured to be sold exclusively at the S. H. Kress & Co. department store chain...
http://www.romeorecords.com/home.htm