Agata Szymczewska
Photo thanks to Ludwig van Beethoven Association.
She plays with a poise, authority and musical intelligence beyond her years,
sounding at times like a fiery young Ida Haendel.
Hilary Finch, “The Times”, 14th October 2010
Winner of the 2006 Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in
Poznań, Agata Szymczewska was awarded the Prize of the Audience and
most special prizes, including major orchestra and recital engagements.
She also received the London Music Masters Award given for the first
time by a committee composed of members of the London Philharmonic
Orchestra, Wigmore Hall and the Royal College of Music. In October 2009
Agata had her debut at Wigmore Hall, following which she received an
invitation to play at the Royal Festival Hall with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska in autumn 2010.
She graduated from the Academy of Music in Poznań, and since 2004 has
studied with Professor Krzysztof Wegrzyn at the Hochschule für Musik und
Theater in Hannover, at the moment at postgraduate level. Since October
2010 Agata is a faculty member of the Music Academy in Poznań.
She has performed in numerous European countries as well as in Israel,
Russia, Canada, China, Korea and Japan, appearing with orchestras
including Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic (the National
Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland), National Polish Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Vilnius State Symphony Orchestra,
and Russian Philharmonic. She has collaborated with outstanding
conductors including Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrey Boreyko, Moshe Atzmon,
Dmitri Liss, Saulius Sondeckis, Antoni Wit, Maxim Vengerov and Jerzy
Maksymiuk.
Besides these, Agata is a very active chamber musician. Every year since
2005, she has taken part in the prestigious International Music Academy
Switzerland founded by Maestro Seiji Ozawa. In 2005, she toured Japan
and China with Maestro Seiji Ozawa as the youngest member and
concertmaster of Ongaku-juku Orchestra. In 2010 she took part in the
Kronberg Academy’s „Chamber Music Connects the World” Festival, where
she had the chance to play with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Franz
Helmerson.
Agata’s recent and forthcoming concert highlights include appearances at
the Théatre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam,
Konzerthaus Berlin, Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany, Beethoven Easter
Festival in Warsaw.
Agata has received scholarships granted by the Polish Fund for Talented
Children, the Polish Prime Minister, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now,
Gundlach Musikprize and the Polish Ministry of Culture as part of the
program “Young Poland”. In 2006 she was honoured with such awards as:
Passport of the „Polityka” weekly, TVP Kultura Award (in the category of
classical music) and Fryderyk Award (for the best solo album of the
year). Her recording of Karlowicz’s violin concerto (with Sinfonia
Varsovia conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk) was also awarded with a Fryderyk
Award in the category “symphonic and concert music” in 2008.
In February 2009, together with Krystian Zimerman, Kaja Danczowska,
Ryszard Groblewski and Rafał Kwiatkowski, she performed Grażyna
Bacewicz’s Piano Quintets to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s
birth. The tour ended with recording a CD for Deutsche Grammophon.
In October 2010 appeared Agata’s new CD with violin concertos of Bruch and Mendelssohn and Wieniawski’s Legend.
She plays an Antonio Stradivarius violin (Cremona, ca. 1680) on loan from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Agata Szymczewska is represented by Ludwig van Beethoven Association.
Artist's official website: www.agataszymczewska.pl
