A great artist's birthday

Wanda Wiłkomirska, an outstanding Polish violinist of international fame, is celebrating her 80th birthday this year. She was born in Warsaw, in 1929, to a very musical family, in which all of the members (parents and numerous siblings) were musicians. Little Wanda was just 5 years old when her grandfather started to teach her to play the violin, and 7 when she gave her first public performance in Łódź, where she played Mozart’s first sonata.
Then came years of study in Warsaw, Budapest and Paris. Her first major success was in 1946, when the 17-year-old Wanda won an international violin competition in Geneva. That was followed by other important successes, which affirmed that Wanda Wiłkomirska is an unusually talented violinist, with an international career standing before her. These included awards at competitions in Budapest (1949), Leipzig (1950) and in Poznań (1952). However, it was Wanda Wiłkomirska’s triumphal debut in the United States, where she gave a concert with the Warsaw National Philharmonic in 1961, which truly paved the way to international fame.
She undertook a lifestyle typical of international artists, giving concerts on the most important stages of the world, performing with the best orchestras and conductors. She played with Otto Klemperer, Kurt Masur, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Witold Rowicki, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maiski, and many, many other outstanding musicians, conductors and soloists.
In 1981, when martial law was declared in Poland, the violinist left the country, only returning for a visit after the fall of communism, in 1990. She lived in Australia.
Wanda Wiłkomirska played at the ceremonial inauguration of Barbican Hall in London and Sydney Opera in Australia. She has been awarded many medals and orders. Her name is known to music lovers from the whole world – either from her concerts or her many recordings. The artist also loves her pedagogical work. She plays the violin of Petrus Guarnerius, created in 1734, in Venice.
When asked what it is like to live in a family of musical geniuses, the violist replies:
– In my family, there was some kind of miracle, because each of us – I, and my siblings Maria, Kazimierz, Józef and Michał – had an instrument assigned by my father, which we were supposed to play. But father never forced us to play. He never let us go on vacation without an instrument, though. I remember that he got angry at me when he saw that I was playing volleyball – he was worried about my fingers. I started to cry and shout that I wanted to be a normal girl.
– Did you play for yourself, or for the audience?
– I always play for the audience. For myself, I practice. Once, a Hungarian professor taught me how not to have stage fright. He advised me to imagine that there were not people sitting in the hall, just heads of cabbage. I protested, saying that in that case I would rather stay home. And as long as I am playing at a concert hall, I want every listener to have the impression that I am playing only for him or her.
– Have you had stage fright?
– It has happened that I bit my nails in the car on the way to the concert. The greatest fear is always about remembering the notes. But I have always tried to remember them, even in my younger years. I have always had poor eyesight, and, as I did not want to wear glasses and there were not any contact lenses yet in those days, I was left with memorization.
– What are your favorite works?
– During my studies, I loved Bartok: both his sonatas and rhapsodies. I also like concertos by Wieniawski, Prokofiew, and Szostakowicz. And the concerto by Karol Szymanowski, which changed my life. I have played it on five continents. I love all of Ravel, even the quartet. Also, all literature for the piano. I love impressionist painters: Chagall, Van Gogh, and Goya.
– And who would you take to a desert island? – a question often asked to artists. Wanda Wiłkomirska answers it thus:
– Everything you lose and seek you will find in Bach.
Kazimierz Sobolewski