Tag: important performances

Aug, 2010: Wind of Yemen at Mano a Mano, Bunol, Spain
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Aug, 2010: Wind of Yemen at Mano a Mano, Bunol, Spain

  • Duration: ca. 18 minutes
  • Picc, Fl, Ob, Bsn, P.Cl, 3 Cls, A.Cl, B.Cl, A.Sx, T.Sx, B.Sx, 4 Hns, 3 Cnts, 2 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Bar, Tba, Str. Bass, Timp, Perc (4-5)

The symphonic poem Wind of Yemen for Symphonic Wind Band was performed at Mano a Mano festival, in August 2010 in Bunol, Spain, by the CIM La Armónica de Buñol (Valencia), conducted by  Frank De Vuyst.

I was excited to receive an invitation to that event and to have an opportunity to work with such great performers!

More words are redundant, just listen to the recording from the concert, below.

Frank De Vuyst and CIM La Armónica de Buñol (Valencia)
After performance of "Wind of Yemen"
Left-to-right: Jose Corachan (President of C.I.M. 'La Armonica'), Luis Serrano Alacorn (composer, conductor of Symphonic Band Centre Artistic Musical de Betera, Spain), Victoriano Valencia (composer, Columbia), Gregory Fritze (composer, Chair of the Composition Department, Berklee College of Music, USA), Boris Pigovat, Frank De Vuyst (Music Director of C.I.M. 'La Armonica')
Left-to-right: Boris Pigovat, Victoriano Valencia (composer, Columbia), Frank De Vuyst (Music Director of C.I.M. 'La Armonica')
Mano a Mano 2010, Bunol, Spain (after the concert)
Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand
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Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand

Holocaust Requiem was performed for it’s second time at the Concert of Remembrance for the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht.
The outstanding performance by violist Dr. Donald Maurice, Professor of Music at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, conductor Mark Taddei, and Vector Wellington Orchestra, was widely reviewed by local and international media.

Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem
Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem
Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA
Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA
Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award
Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award
Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany
Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany
Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand
Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand
Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine
Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine
Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)
Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)

Later, Donald Maurice remembered:

The performance was in 2008 but is indelibly etched into my memory. Many people were in tears. I myself said, ‘I must not cry!’” Commenting on the composition’s future and potential for effecting change, he observed, “It needs to be performed often as a reminder of the effects of war and the circumstances that precipitate one culture wanting to dominate or annihilate another.

A live recording of Requiem from the event was released by Atoll, in November 2010, with other pieces of mine.

Here is an audio recording of an interview given by Donald Maurice and Marc Taddei to Radio New Zealand (Nov 2008).

Below are some samples of that amazing performance and some photos from the event.

Before a concert, Michael Fowler Centre
David Zwartz (Chairperson of Wellington Regional Jewish Council), Boris Pigovat, Christopher Finlayson (Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage), Yuval Rotem (Ambassador of Israel to Australia and New Zealand)
Boris Pigovat, Christine Pearce (General Manager of Vector Wellington Orchestra), Marc Taddei and Donald Maurice (#7)
left-to-right: Jorg Zimmerman (Ambassador of Germany to New Zealand), David Zwartz (Chairperson of Wellington Regional Jewish Council), Inge Woolf (Director of Wellington Holocaust Research and Education Centre), Christopher Finlayson (Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage), Donald Maurice, Yuval Rotem (Ambassador of Israel to Australia and New Zealand), Boris Pigovat
with Inge Woolf (Director of Wellington Holocaust Research and Education Centre)
Donald Maurice (Viola) and Vector Wellington Orchestra, conductor - Marc Taddei
Donald Maurice (Viola) and Vector Wellington Orchestra, conductor - Marc Taddei
Donald Maurice (Viola) and Vector Wellington Orchestra, conductor - Marc Taddei
After performance of Requiem
After performance of Requiem
After performance of Requiem

Requiem “The Holocaust” is not music for the faint of heart. The listener is drawn inexorably into the unfolding tragedy... Pigovat runs a stylistic gamut from tonal to expressionistic with hints of Berg and Shostakovich as he gradually unfolds his nightmare. Though instrumental throughout, there are times one can hear “Re—qui-em” among the many busy layers of musical texture.
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Dwight Pounds
Journal of the American Viola Society
2011

The Music is harrowing and tense, and very Russian in sound. Echoes of contemporary composers such as Denisov, Kanchelli and Gubaidulina can be heard, as well as the inexorable thread of Shostakovich in the Dies Irae, but the voice of the composer remains highly individual. Balancing the violence, anger and tension is the conciliatory beauty of the Lux Eterna that rounds out a work of deeply felt power.
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John Button
The Dominion Post
November 11, 2008

Using purely orchestral forces this 46-minute symphonic-concerto encompasses ear-splitting anguish, horror and confusion -- tolling tintinnabulations mark the outset of unspeakable atrocities while abject grief is heightened by sonorous lamentations of the solo viola; a role of unusually formidable demands.
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Howard Smith
M&V Daily, Concert Reviews
November 13, 2008

Pigovat's music is evocative and distuibing in its depiction of the Holocaust. With styles reminiscent of other Russian composers, including the rich melancholy of Shostakovich the compositional style is still distinctly Pigovat's own. Intense and strongly assured it is a life-affirming piece that makes a telling statemen with subtlety.
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Garth Wilsher
Capital Times, NZ
December, 2008
Massada (1997)
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Massada (1997)

  • Duration: ca. 14 minutes
  • Picc, Fl, Ob, Bsn, P.Cl, 3 Cls, B.Cl, A.Sx, T.Sx, B.Sx, 4 Hns, 2 Cnts, 3 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Bar, 2 Tbas, Str. Bass, Timp, Perc (4).

In 1996 I met Michael Delman, the conductor of the Wind Orchestra of the Petah-Tikva Conservatoire (Israel).
Before meeting him for the first time, I had never written anything for wind orchestra, and I have viewed wind orchestration as limited to bands performing marches or any entertainment music, like songs, waltzes, polka, fantasy, and potpourri.
Mr. Delman opened a new world to me: the wind orchestra, with abilities and repertoire similar to the symphony orchestra. This type of orchestra is called a  symphonic wind band or a wind symphony orchestra.

For more than 20 years,  Michael Delman and I have collaborated. He and his orchestra premiered most of my compositions written for symphonic wind band. Mr. Delman himself conceived the theme of some of my wind band compositions, including Massada, Wind Of Yemen, Exile, and The Heroic Song.

Massada was the first piece that I composed for symphonic wind band. It was composed, and also performed for the first time, in 1997.

Massada (or Masada) is a fortress near the Dead Sea, whose defenders resisted the Romans for seven years and then committed suicide rather than being captured and enslaved by the Romans.

In 1999, Michael Delman and the Petah-Tikva Conservatoire Wind Orchestra performed the European premiere of Massada in the wind-orchestra competition in Zurich, Switzerland, where they won first prize in their category.
They also performed Massada in Festival Mid-Europe ’99 in Schladming, Austria.

Since then, Massada has been performed by various orchestras in Europe, the United States, and in South America, and several orchestras have recorded it.

The most important performances took place at:

Below are some recordings.

Florida State University Wind Orchestra
Laszlo Marosi, Conductor
USA, 2001

Petah-Tikva Conservatoire Wind Orchestra
Michael Delman, Conductor
1999

Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine
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Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine

The Memorial evening dedicated to Babi Yar tragedy was the world premiere of Requiem. I was openly excited to have the premiere in that historic location, where the tragedy took place. My father’s family were murdered in Babi Yar by the Nazis in September of 1941, and I was feeling the suffering of this deep personal tragedy when I wrote Requiem.

Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem
Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem
Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA
Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA
Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award
Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award
Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany
Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany
Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand
Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand
Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand
Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand
Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)
Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)

The outstanding performance by violist Rainer Moog and the Symphony Orchestra of National Philarmonic Society of Ukraine, conducted by Roman Kofman, was the best premiere imaginable.
Later, in his interview to Ukrainian daily newspaper “The Day” from October 9 2001, Roman Kofman said:

I’m sure that the Holocaust Requeim has a great future. Boris Pigovat’s composition is very sophisticated, but isn’t flowery of the pretentious. It is simple but not primitive, it is frank and heartfelt, an outstanding work.

Below is a live recording of that outstanding premiere.

  • Duration: ca. 46 minutes
  • 3 Fls (Picc), 2 Obs, 3 Cls (B.Cl) 2 Bsns, C.Bn, 4 Hns, 3 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Tba, Timp,  Perc (4), Cel, Pno, Hp, Vla solo, Str.