Krzysztof Węgrzyn – violin

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Krzysztof Węgrzyn graduated from the Academy of Music in Warsaw, the violin class of Zenon Brzewski. He also studied in Freiburg under Wolfgang Marschner and in London under Yfrah Neaman. His artistic and teaching activities were strongly influenced by his long-term contact with Dorothy DeLay.

He plays a Venetian violin from the 18th century by Domenico Montagnama. His repertoire includes works by Witold Lutoslawski, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others.

He has made numerous radio, television and CD recordings. He was nominated together with Tomasz Tomaszewski for the Fryderyk ’99 Music Award in the Contemporary Music – Soloists category: for the album ‘Violin Duos: Tansman, Spisak, Górecki, Moss, Krzysztof Węgrzyn and Tomasz Tomaszewski – violin, Polish Contemporary Music, DUX.

Among other things, he is the initiator and artistic director of the triennial Hanover International Violin Competition dedicated to Joseph Joachim, which has been held in Hanover since 1991, the Gdansk International Violin Seminars, the “Gdansk Spring” Festival (1995-2007) and the “Young Virtuoso” Violin Competition.

He was a member of the Piano Quintet composed of: Alicja Paleta-Bugaj, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Krzysztof Węgrzyn, Claude Lelong, and Roman Jabłoński.

He has made numerous radio, television and CD recordings. His wide repertoire includes works by Witold Lutosławski, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt and Krzysztof Penderecki.

In 2008, his performance together with the violinist Jarosław Żołnierczyk added splendour to the final concert of the Jubilee Festival celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra “Amadeus” and the 40th anniversary of the conducting activity of its founder and director, Agnieszka Duczmal.

He was the first concertmaster of the Philharmonic and Opera Orchestra in Hanover. Since 1993, he has been Professor and since 2012 Rector for Artistic Affairs at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover. Many outstanding violinists, the subsequent winners of international violin competitions, have been his pupils, including Andrej Bielow, Mariusz Patyra, MinJung Kang, Alie Bekirova, Kana Sugimura and Agata Szymczewska.

He regularly conducts interpretation courses and master classes in Europe (Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Israel) as well as in the United States (Juilliard School, Aspen), Canada, Japan, South Korea and China. He participates in the juries of international competitions for both violin and chamber music (e.g. the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the ARD in Munich, the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, the Niccolò Paganini Competition in Genoa, and the Chamber Music Competition in Osaka).
He is the initiator and artistic director of the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, which takes place every 3 years in Hanover, as well as the Gdansk International Violin Seminars and the “Gdansk Spring” Festival.