About me

MY YOUTH

Music, as art, has been my companion since early childhood. I come from a family, where playing an instrument is part of a long-standing tradition. I was born in the autumn of 1985 in Gdańsk. I started my professional musical education when I was 6 years old in the Grażyna Bacewicz Music School in Koszalin. I went on to graduate from Hochschule für Music und Theater in Hannover under prof. Krzysztof Węgrzyn and from the Music Academy in Poznań under prof. Bartosz Bryła. Throughout my education I drew a lot of inspiration and learnt from meetings and masterclasses with such celebrated artists and teachers as Wanda Wiłkomirska, Kaja Danczowska, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Barłomiej Nizioł, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov, Ana Chumachenko, Boris Kuschnir and Pawel Vernikov. From an early age I took part in numerous violin competitions on a regional, national and international levels receiving several awards and distinctions. During this period I benefited greatly from various scholarships granted by the National Fund for Children, Young Poland Programme, the Polish Prime Minister, Gundlach Musikpreis, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation. The educational programmes that I found particularly inspiring were Morningside Music Bridge in Calgary in 2003 and 2004 and, regularly since 2005, Seiji Ozawa International Music Academy Switzerland. In 2005 I was also invited for a month- long tour in Japan and China as the concertmaster of the orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa himself.

THE WIENIAWSKI COMPETITION

My artistic life gained unprecedented momentum in October 2006 when as the first Polish woman in history I won the First Prize and the Gold Medal in the 13 th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin competition in Poznań. Being able to compete in that oldest violin competition in the world was an invaluable and unique experience which raised my profile exponentially across music stages in Poland, Europe, Asia and both Americas.

VIOLIN AROUND THE WORLD

Winning the Wieniawski Competition opened the doors to numerous concert halls. Up to this day I have performed more than 1000 concerts in 40 countries all over the world in such prestigious locations as the New York Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington, Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Berliner Philharmoniker, Sala São Paulo in Brazil, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Seoul Arts Center in South Korea as well as concert venues in China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Columbia, Russia, Turkey and Israel. I had the opportunity to perform in concerts conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, Andrey Boreyko, Maxim Vengerov, Krzysztof Penderecki, John Axelrod, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Jacek Kaspszyk, Krzysztof Urbański, Michał Nesterowicz, Antoni Wit and Jan Krenz. I was accompanied by orchestras such as: Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Istambul State Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Vilnius State Symphony Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.

My most trusted travel companions

All these concerts could not have been performed to such a high standard, had it not been for the outstanding instruments I had the privilege to play. Of all these, I would place three violins on the podium in the following order: a Vincenzo Panormo violin on loan from prof. Krzysztof Węgrzyn, with which I won the Wieniawski Competition and went on to perform many concerts in 2006, then an Antonio Stradivarius from 1680 owned by Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben in Hamburg, which I played and recorded with between 2007 and 2016, and for 5 years now my most beloved companion on world stages is a Nicolò Gagliano violin from 1755. It is on loan courtesy of Anne-Sophie Mutter, who played it as a young artist in concerts alongside Herbert von Karajan and while recording her first albums for Deutsche Grammophon.

POWER OF AN ENSEMBLE

For many years now my dream has been to explore the vast richness of chamber music, ideally with my own ensemble. I was able to fullfil this dream by joining the Karol Szymanowski Quartet in 2014 as its first violin. Every year we perform several dozen concerts with music ranging from the renaissance period to contemporary pieces. Since the Wieniawski Competition I have had the opportunity to share the stage with many artists who have been my idols since childhood. I will forever cherish the memories of concerts with Krystian Zimerman and Martha Argerich when we performed Piano Quintets by Grażyna Bacewicz and Juliusz Zarębski, several violin recitals with Igor Levit, Jan Sebastian Bach’s Double Concertos with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maxim Vengerov, Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartets with Gidon Kremer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Yuri Bashmet or Franz Schubert’s String Quintet with Mischa Maisky and many other concerts with artists such as Alexandra Soumm, Alena Baeva, Pablo Ferrandez, Kian Soltani, Maximilian Hornung, Veronika Hagen, Amihai Grosz, Andreas Ottensamer, Albrecht Mayer and Radovan Vlatković.

RECORDING STUDIO

Any attempt to capture on record the music, the sound, special atmosphere and artistic originality is always a lengthy and time-consuming process. My discography so far includes 19 CDs recorded for the most recognizable record labels in the world such as Deutsche Grammophon (chamber pieces by Grażyna Bacewicz with Krystian Zimerman, Kaja Danczowska and others), Decca (Piano Quintet in G minor op. 57 by Dmitri Shostakovich with the Szymanowski Quartet and Michail Lifitis), Sony, Hyperion, SWR Musik, CD Accord BeArTon, Polish Radio. Many of these recordings have won international awards granted by the recorded music industry such as Fryderyki, OPUS KLASSIK, Diapason d’Or. You can find more information in the DISCOGRAPHY section.

NEW CHALLENGES

In my artistic life I am constantly trying to widen my horizons and search for exciting, innovative works which encourage me to explore new musical territories. The turning point in that area was the album Modern Soul that came out in 2016 with violin sonatas written for me by young Polish composers: Aleksander Nowak, Mikołaj Majkusiak, Ignacy Zalewski and Marcin Markowicz. In recent years I have also premiered works by contemporary composers from all over the world: Krzysztof Penderecki, Martin Suckling, Joyce Tang, Charlotte Bray, Christoph Ehrenfellner, EunHo Chang.

MUSIC MEDALS

I have been a big fan of various sports events from an early age. Sport as a form of individual or group rivalry brings me intense and versatile emotions. I eagerly follow the efforts and successes of Polish sportsmen and sportswomen – their achievements and medals mean a lot to me. In my display case at home I also keep all the trophies I have won competing in the world of classical music. Among those I hold a special place for:


  • Gold Medal in the Wieniawski Competition (2006)
  • Polityka’s Passport (2006)
  • Polish TV Culture Channel Award including the Best Solo Album of the Year
  • 4 Fryderyk Awards w tym w kategorii Najlepszy Album Solowy Roku
  • London Music Masters Award (2009)
  • OPUS KLASSIK (2018)

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Teaching is an extremely important area of my professional life. I owe so much to my Teachers, Professors and Masters who passed on to me the invaluable knowledge and successful tools to achieve mastery. For more than 10 years now I have been regularly working with students, which is an ideal way for me to share my knowledge with them and create an inspiring environment to exchange ideas.
At present, I am a Professor of the Fryderyk Chopin Music University holding a Habilitated Doctor of Musical Arts degree and a faculty member of the Young Talents „Brzewski” Music School in Warsaw. I also lecture and give masterclasses in many parts of Poland and abroad.