Biography
| "It is simply indisputable. Dr. Eric Kujawsky, music director
of Redwood Symphony, has a foot in the first rank of orchestral
conductors. His American directness and lack of affectation frame a directing technique that should be put on film and used for teaching purposes. Furthermore, the range of his interpretive skills, from the pre-classical to modernism, seems to have no limits."--Redwood City Tribune |
Eric Kujawsky is the founder and Music Director of Redwood Symphony, now in its 22nd season.
Eric Kujawsky, a native of West Los Angeles, made his conducting debut with a youth orchestra at nineteen. After completing his B.A. and M.F.A. degrees respectively in Music Education and Conducting at UCLA, Kujawsky accepted a fellowship to study conducting at Stanford, where he completed his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting in 1985.
Dr. Kujawsky has developed a personal style that achieves a balance of clarity and expression. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival as a member of the prestigious Conducting Master Class, and has studied with Samuel Krachmalnick, Paul Vermel and Andor Toth.
Dr. Kujawsky has performed throughout the West, including the Saratoga Symphony, Mesa (Arizona) Symphony, South Valley Symphony, Theaterworks and the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra.
A conductor of far-ranging abilities, Dr. Kujawsky has garnered acclaim for interpretations of works from every stylistic period, from the Baroque to the avant-garde. He has conducted all of the Mahler symphonies, and has presented many Bay Area and West Coast premieres of works by Bernstein, Elfman and Elvis Costello. In addition, he has done many works by Adams, Corigliano, Lutoslawski and other late 20th century composers.
Eric Kujawsky now has six compact discs with Redwood Symphony. Two feature the works of Stravinsky, including The Rite of Spring and Petrushka. Other recorded works include Pictures at an Exhibition and the complete Rodeo ballet. Dr. Kujawsky has appeared on six nationally distributed cable broadcasts.
An accomplished opera and theater conductor, Maestro Kujawsky has been the music director for productions of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George, (for which Kujawsky received the 1987 Bay Area Theater Critics' Circle Award and the Hollywood Dramalogue Award), My Fair Lady, Kiss Me Kate, and Cabaret. In 1996, Kujawsky initiated a series of concert operas with Redwood Symphony, including Porgy and Bess, Carmen and La Bohème.
"Conductor Eric Kujawsky has a marvelous way of turning each Redwood Symphony concert into a music appreciation class. His often humorous way of explaining the intricacies of the music, giving background information on the composers and using the orchestra to demonstrate the various elements of the music he is discussing creates a warm feeling of intimacy between the folks in the audience and those on stage and greatly adds to the fun." --Peninsula Times-Tribune
Redwood Symphony
"They've got the right stuff, they're on a roll and there's no stopping them now. Choose your cliché; all the positive ones apply. The Redwood Symphony and its exuberant director, Eric Kujawsky, set a higher standard for community orchestras with every performance, including last Sunday's standing-room-only concert at Cañada College."--Redwood City Tribune
"Dr. Eric Kujawsky, Musical Director of the Redwood Symphony has, in eleven years, from, scratch, fashioned an orchestra that has risen to a level of excellence rarely demonstrated in any community orchestra. In short, for the first time in my seventy-one years, I participated in a standing ovation for such an orchestra. They are that good! I was listening for some weaknesses in the ensemble, but, if there were any, I didn't detect them."--Redwood City Tribune
Since its conception by Eric Kujawsky in 1985, Redwood Symphony has been an orchestra that is unique in its approach to making music. The ensemble performs music that is considered beyond the scope of a community orchestra: all of the Mahler symphonies, Lutoslawski's Third and Fourth Symphonies, Corigliano's Symphony No. 1, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, Oedipus Rex and Symphony in Three Movements, Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, Ives' Symphony No. 4, music by John Adams and other late 20th century composers, in addition to the more standard repertoire. What makes this achievement truly remarkable is the fact that this is an all-volunteer community orchestra, made up of amateurs and professionals. No members are paid and "ringers" are not hired to fill out the ranks. The result is professional execution coupled with the amateur's infectious delight in taking risks and doing exciting works for the first time.
"It is true that all the members of the orchestra are without exception amateurs, but I am convinced that there is not one who could not earn his or her way in the professional symphony ranks." --Redwood City Tribune
Redwood Symphony has six CDs currently in release, available at www.amazon.com.
On Redwood Symphony's Petrushka (Clarity Recordings): "Another great recording from Clarity...The performance and sonics are as good as there is."--Bound for Sound
On Redwood Symphony's The Rite of Spring (Clarity Recordings): "Hobbled for 40 years by a cultural climate that demanded that a performance illuminate the music's structure rather than its emotional content, the work has not been properly recorded since Muti and the Philadelphians' electrifying reading on EMI--and even that was hampered by a mediocre recording with restricted dynamic range. Now there's one that does Rite full justice. Don't be put off by the unfamiliar performers; what matters is how familiar they are with the music, and they know it inside out. This is a stunning Rite, and the recording will blow your socks off." --Stereophile Magazine, "Records to Die For," (1997).
In a region studded with major ensembles, Redwood Symphony, in a short period of time, has established itself in the forefront in quality and innovation.
"Kujawsky and the Redwood Symphony have clearly become the benchmark for orchestral performance on the mid-Peninsula."--Redwood City Tribune
"The Redwood Symphony is a must-see among community orchestras on the Peninsula with more than just strong, visionary leadership from the podium. The orchestra sets itself apart because of its ambition in programming and overall goals." --San Mateo Times
"Kujawsky has an unbelievably coherent ensemble under his deft and sure control...This is an orchestra worthy of the name "symphony" and gave an accounting itself worthy of the best currently performing." --Peninsula Times-Tribune