Wanda Wilkomirska

Wanda Wiłkomirska (born 11 January 1929 in Warsaw) is a Polish violinist and teacher. She is known for both the classical repertoire and for her interpretation of 20th-century music, having received two Polish State Awards for promoting Polish music to the world and also other awards for her contribution to music. She has given world premiere performances of numerous contemporary works including Tadeusz Baird and Krzysztof Penderecki. She now lives and teaches in Australia. Wiłkomirska performs on a violin crafted by Pietro Guarneri in 1734 in Venice.

Wanda Wiłkomirska first learned the violin from her father, and studied with Irena Dubiska at the Łódź Academy of Music, graduating in 1947. She graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest in 1950, where she studied under Ede Zathureczki (a student of Jenő Hubay). She performed in Paris, which led to Henryk Szeryng asking her to study with him. She won prizes at competitions in Geneva (1946), Budapest (1949) and Leipzig (the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, 1950; 2nd prize), She also studied in Warsaw under Tadeusz Wroński, who helped her prepare for the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań in December 1952, where she played Karol Szymanowski’s Concerto No. 1 for the first time (it became a favourite of hers). She shared 2nd prize with Julian Sitkovetsky; the 1st prize winner was Igor Oistrakh.

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