Tadeusz Wronski (1915-2000), the patron of this international violin competition, was an exceptional violinist and simultaneously one of the world's most famous violin teachers. He graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1939, where he studied under professor Jozef Jarzebski. In 1947-48 he continued his musical education under professor Andre Gerttler at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1949 he became a professor at Warsaw's State Higher School of Music (currently the Frederick Chopin Academy of Music), and went on to serve as the school's rector in the years 1973-75. He also taught for a time at the largest music college in the United States, the Indiana Bloomington School of Music (1966-84). During his career, he educated over five hundred violinists. Between 1962 and 1965, he headed the Stowarzyszenie Polskich Artystow Muzykow (Association of Polish Musician Performers). As a performer, Wronski appeared in a duo with
Wladyslaw Szpilman and was a member of the Kwintet Warszawski (Warsaw Quintet). As an author, his published titles include the four-volume ZAGADNIENIA GRY SKRZYPCOWEJ / ISSUES IN VIOLIN PERFORMANCE (1957-70), a study titled SONATY I PARTITY BACHA NA SKRZYPCE SOLO / BACH'S SONATAS AND PARTITAS FOR SOLO VIOLIN (1970), ZDOLNI I NIEZDOLNI. O GRZE I ANTYGRZE NA SKRZYPCACH / The Problems of Violin Teaching, Talented and Untalented Students (1979), MAGIA ZYCIA / THE MAGIC OF LIFE (1995), and TECHNIKI GRY SKRZYPCOWEJ / VIOLIN PLAYING TECHNIQUES (1996).
"The Tadeusz Wronski International Competition for solo violin is the only violin tournament of its kind in the world," says Slawomir Tomasik, the competition's secretary. "To many musicians and music scholars, the competition is particularly significant because of the invariably high levels at which its participants perform, and because it virtually guarantees the development of its young participants' performance styles. Winners of past editions of this competition are today outstanding violin virtuosos, renowned within their own countries and beyond." The first edition of the OGOLNOPOLSKI KONKURS NA SKRZYPCE SOLO TADEUSZA WRONSKIEGO / TADEUSZ WRONSKI ALL-POLAND SOLO VIOLIN COMPETITION was held in Warsaw on the 8th and 9th of January, 1990. Krzysztof Bakowski, a graduate of the Academy of Music in Warsaw and the University School of Music in Bloomington, emerged as the competition's victor. Today, Bakowski is a respected professor at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. Second prize went to Bartlomiej Niziol, who went on to win the MIEDZYNARODOWY KONKURS SKRZYPCOWY IM. HENRYKA WIENIAWSKIEGO / HENRYK WIENIAWSKI INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION in Poznan and the Jacques Thibaud and Marguerite Long International Violin Competition in Paris. Third prize was awarded to Eryka Dobosiewicz, subsequently a winner of the Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition in Mexico. The second edition of the competition was held in January of 1992. Krzysztof Chorzelski, a student of Warsaw's Academy of Music at the time, garnered the first prize, while Dominika Falger and Grazyna Sojka were both awarded second prizes. Both editions of the competition were organized through the efforts of and with resources provided by professor Tadeusz Wronski and his students. The third edition, held in February of 1995, was planned as a domestic competition but attracted a number of participants from outside Poland. Ewa Pyrek emerged as its victor. By decision of Poland's Ministry of Culture and Art and the governing authorities of the Academy of Music in Warsaw, the competition was then transformed into an international event. The succeeding fourth edition of the competition (the first to be officially titled international) was held in April of 1997. Thirty violinists from seven countries participated, with Wilfrid Hedenborg of Austria taking first prize, American Lisa Un-Lee garnering second, and Sebastian Liebig, a student of Warsaw's Academy of Music, taking third. The second edition of the international competition was held in February of 2000. Fifteen-year-old Russian violinist Alona Baeva emerged victorious and subsequently won the HENRYK WIENIAWSKI VIOLIN COMPETITION in Poznan; second prize went to Aude Perrin-Durreau of France, while Grzegorz Szydlo of Poland took third. This year's edition of the TADEUSZ WRONSKI INTERNATIONAL SOLO VIOLIN COMPETITION has drawn forty-five young violinists from China, France, Holland, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, and Hungary. The competition jury, made up of violin virtuosos from six countries, will be chaired by renowned Polish violinist Magdalena Rezler-Niesiolowska, herself formerly a student of professor Tadeusz Wronski.
Additional information: Slawomir Tomasik
tel. (+48 22) 615 26 52, 0-606 581 547
The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music
Akademia Muzyczna im. Fryderyka Chopina
ul. Okolnik 2, 00-368 Warszawa
tel. (+48 22) 827 72 41
fax (+48 22) 827 83 06
www.chopin.edu.pl