He began his violin studies when he was 8 years old, honing his talent for another 12 years, to win the ARD International Radio Competition in Munich at the age of 20 and start a career abroad. This year he celebrates his 70th birthday, and as a world famous violinist he will sit at the jury of the 11th Michał Spisak International Music Competition – Konstanty Andrzej Kulka!

One of the most prominent representatives of Polish violinist music who spent most of his extremely rich life playing the violin, presenting over 2,000 recitals on the stages around the world. And it all started in Gdańsk, where he came into the world as the son of a singer of the Baltic Opera and a pianist who tutored in this opera. Already at the age of 12, he gave his first recital, which ticket revenue was intended to build schools. He inherited the talent for music with his genes, which he proved by receiving a distinction at the age of 17 during the Niccolò Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa. Although, as he claims, he was never a wonderful child, it is difficult to agree with him, looking at his achievements.

He is known to both foreign and Polish audience for performing contemporary music and world masterpieces for violin. He interprets the works of Krzysztof Penderecki and Witold Lutosławski, although he holds Karol Lipiński as his idol, trying to make classical music lovers not forget the works of this outstanding 19th-century composer. He has 29 music albums and numerous awards. Since 1994, he has been a professor and head of the Chair of String Instruments at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In September this year, he will visit Dąbrowa Górnicza to sit in the jury of the 11th Michał Spisak International Music Competition and select the winner in the violin specialty.

The author of the photography is Mikołaj Grunberg