Grazyna Bacewicz

Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) studied at the Warsaw Conservatory and in the early 1930s in Paris where she studied composition under the legendary Nadia Boulanger. She was the leader of Poland's first radio symphony orchestra from 1936 and was acclaimed as a violin virtuoso. In 1955, Bacewicz decided to devote herself to composition; she spent the last three years of her life teaching composition at the Warsaw Concervatory. When she died she was honoured as her country's greatest female composer.