Eric M. Pazdziora

Eric M. Pazdziora, b.  1981, expressed an interest in music at an early age, starting piano lessons at age six with Mrs. Melanie Rost.  His career as a composer was launched when at age eight he wrote a musical that was performed by his third grade class in Crystal Lake, IL. 

Later, as a pianist at various churches in southern Wisconsin, Eric improvised arrangements of hymns and composed new worship songs, notably a full-length Christmas production that was performed by the youth at the Community Church of Elkhorn.  He has also ministered as a worship leader at several churches in the Chicagoland area and southern Wisconsin.

Eric is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition.  His primary composition teacher was Dr. Edwin T. Childs.  Orchestras, instrumental ensembles, choirs, and soloists have performed Eric’s music in a wide variety of venues. In 2004, his orchestral work Fanfare: Cum Laetitia Magna was selected as a winner in the DuPage Symphony Orchestra “Fanfare for our Fiftieth” composition contest.  Recent commissions have included choral works, instrumental pieces, art songs, film scores, and incidental music for drama. 

 

Eric lives in Chicago, Illinois where he works as a freelance musician and as Sunday Service Coordinator for Holy Trinity Church.  He was married to Carrie Harrell on July 22, 2006.

2007: Arrangements of three Christmas carols for twelve-voice madrigal choir: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Angels We Have Heard on High, What Child is This, premiered in Florida

2007: Arrangement of Mick McGuire, Irish traditional song, for TTBB and piano, is premiered in Belfast by the Moody Men's Collegiate Choir

2007: Stretto-Fantasie on "Battle Hymn of the Republic" for chamber orchestra, premiered by the East Wisconsin Ensemble.

2006: Love Seeketh Not Its Own, wedding piano solo

2006: Arranged, orchestrated and conducted film score for Waking Up Alone.

2005: Original film score for Clocks commissioned by Filmweavers.  Clocks was named a finalist in the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

2005: Senior composition recital included premieres of O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing (SATB, violin, flute, piano), Three Breton Dances (String quartet), Glass-Colored Roses: Nine Watercolor Sketches for Piano (Piano solo), Wandering Songs: Four Irish Poems by Padraic Colum (Soprano, Violin, Violoncello, Piano), and Gloria Tibi Trinitas: Four hymns on the trinity (SATB with organ).

2005: Three Reflections: Poems by Peter McIntyre for voice and piano premiered at Peter McIntyre's senior voice recital.

2004: Original film score "Let the Nations Praise" commissioned for a video project by Avant Ministries

2004: Original orchestral work Fanfare: Cum Laetitia Magna selected as a winner in the DuPage Symphony Orchestra's "Fanfare For Our Fiftieth" contest.  World premiere on 8 February, 2004

2004: Choral/congregation arrangement of In Christ Alone commissioned and performed by the Moody Chorale, including a performance during Founder's Week, broadcast on national radio

2003: Junior composition recital included premieres of Echoes from the Cross (Violin/Piano), Fantasie-Rondo on "Duke Street" (string quartet), Phantastes: Seven Songs from a Story by George MacDonald (Voice/Piano), By Faith in Christ I Walk With God (SATB acapella) and Gloria Patri (SATB with piano)

2003: Orchestral arrangement of Who Would Imagine a King performed in Moody Bible Institute's 49th annual "Candlelight Carols" program; the performance was broadcast nationally on the Moody Broadcasting network

2003: Composed incidental music for Moody Bible Institute production of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker

2002: Choral arrangement Here is Love commissioned and performed by the choir of the North Platte Berean Church, North Platte, Nebraska

Pazdziora.  It's Polish.  As near as we can work out, it comes from the words for corn or flax; thus, it means either "flax-haired" or "harvester". 

There are two ways to pronounce it.  The Americanized way is simpler: the second z is silent.  This results in something fairly close to "Pass the aura".

To get a hang on the authentic Polish pronunciation, remember that "dzi" in Polish is pronounced as a "j".  All together: "pahzh-DJOER-uh".

The name is actually fairly simple, as Polish surnames go, but unfortunately, few people seem able to spell it correctly.  It's understandable, given the silent z, but it still can be rather amusing.  I've gotten mail addressed to Eric Pazadora or Pazdiora or Padziora or Pazderoa or Pazadoria, and once even Casteroa!  No, Pazdziora is the one and only. 

Fortunately, my choice of career as a composer is one where it's quite all right to have a long unpronouncible surname.  If people can remember Rimsky-Korsakov, Milhaud, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich, surely they can remember Pazdziora!

Compared to this, nothing else on this website is remotely significant.  It's the relationship that transformed my life forever.  As a character named Clark Kent once observed, "You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, yet every day I hear people crying for one."  I believe that God sent Jesus to rescue us from the penalty we deserved for turning against God, and to bring us back into a wonderful loving relationship with Him. 

If you feel there's something missing in your life, I encourage you to check out this relationship with the one who said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."  This presentation called "Yours for Life" explains it very well, or feel free to email me if you have any questions.

This page has been viewed  times.