Polish Violin Virtuoso Wanda Wiłkomirska was Born in 1929

By The Violin Channel

January 11, 2024

2 MIN READ

Wiłkomirska was a protégé of Ede Zathureczki, Tadeusz Wroński, and Henryk Szeryng

Born in Warsaw on January 11, 1929, Wanda Wiłkomirska began learning the violin from a young age with her father Alfred, who was a teacher at Poland's Warsaw Conservatory and introduced Wanda to the violin studies of Otakar Ševčík.

After graduating from the Academy of Music in Łódź in 1947, Wiłkomirska attended the Ferenc Lizst Music Academy and studied under Ede Zathureczky, a pupil of Jenő Hubay. Her other mentors included Tadeusz Wroński and Henryk Szeryng, whom she met during a visit to Paris.

Known for her renditions of both classical music and 20th-century repertoire, she premiered many important works by her compatriots including Grażyna Bacewicz, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Karol Szymanowski. She also championed the music of Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Frederick Delius, and Benjamin Britten.

She performed with eminent conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Otto Klemperer, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Zubin Mehta, and with ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Her accolades included the Polish State Awards for promoting Polish music internationally, as well as major prizes at the Geneva, Budapest, Leipzig, and Wieniawski International Violin Competitions. In 1997, she won a medal from the Karol Szymanowski Foundation for promoting Szymanowski's music worldwide.

In 1969, she presented 37 performances in Australia, where she later became a resident. Her acclaimed performances also led to additional invitations for recitals and concerts from Australian orchestras. In 1973, she gave the inaugural violin recital at the Sydney Opera House, which opened that year.

As an educator, Wiłkomirska was on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Germany, before joining the violin faculty at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1999, and the Australian National Academy of Music in 2001.

Additionally, she served as a jury member on international competitions, including those held in Moscow, Tokyo, London, Munich, Vienna, Graz, Hanover, Gorizia, and Poland.

Wiłkomirska passed away on May 1, 2018, at the age of 89.