Szymczewska Agata, *7 October 1985 Gdańsk, Polish violinist. She learned to play the violin from the age of six – at Zespół Państwowych Szkół Muzycznych in Koszalin, then at the Academy of Music in Poznań in the class of B. Bryła (diploma – 2007), and from 2004 also at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with K. Węgrzyn. She took part in master classes conducted by, e.g. W. Marschner, P. Munteanu, S. Ozawa, W. Wiłkomirska, and G. Żyslin. She is a laureate of national violin competitions (including the Lotos Gdańsk Classic Prize, 2005) and international competitions (including the Concerto Competition in Calgary 2003, and the A. Jampolski Competition in Moscow 2006). In 2006, she received the 1st prize and the TVP Kultura audience award at the 13th International H. Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań. She has collaborated with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, Sinfonia Iuventus, FN, Sinfonia Lahti, NOSPR, the PR Amadeus chamber orchestra, the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra and many outstanding conductors (including A. Wit, J. Maksymiuk, S. Sondeckis, J. Kaspszyk, J. Krenz). In 2005, she became concertmaster of the orchestra led by S. Ozawa during a tour of Japan and China. In 2009, together with K. Zimerman, K. Danczowska, R. Groblewski and R. Kwiatkowski, she took part in a series of concerts presenting piano quintets by G. Bacewicz (CD DG, 2011), and a year later she performed with G. Kremer and F. Helmerson at the festival in Kronberg. Szymczewska’s album (with M. Sikorski at the piano) entitled XIII Międzynarodowy Konkurs Skrzypcowy im. H. Wieniawskiego received the Fryderyk 2006 award, and the album with M. Karłowicz’s violin concerto performed by Szymczewska and the poem Odwieczne pieśni with the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra conducted by J. Maksymiuk (BeArTon, 2008) received the Fryderyk 2009 award. Szymczewska also recorded violin concertos by M. Bruch and F. Mendelssohn and Wieniawski’s Legend with the Sinfonia Iuventus orchestra conducted by T. Wojciechowski and J. Axelrod (Universal Music Polska 2010). In 2006, she received the “Polityka” Passport.
