Agata Szymczewska is new Chair of the Wieniawski Society's Board!
Agata Szymczewska, 16th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (2022), © Fresh Frame
General and Election Meeting of Members of Henryk Wieiawski Musical Society of Poznań was held at the Lubrański Hall of Adam Mickiewicz University’s Collegium Minus on 6 June 2023. At the meeting, the Society’s 2022 activity and financial reports were approved, and unanimous discharge was granted to the association’s outgoing 2017-2023 Board:
- Alina Kurczewska, Chair,
- Waldemar Łyś, Deputy Chair,
- Katarzyna Liszkowska-Łakomy, Secretary to the Board,
- Bartosz Bryła,
- Piotr Frydryszek,
- Alina Mądry,
- Przemysław Olejnik,
- Grzegorz Romanowski,
- Włodzimierz Walkowiak.
The chief item of the agenda was election of the Society’s authorities for the 2023-2028 term.
Agata Szymczewska, violinist, winner of 13th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań in 2006 was elected new Chair of the Board. Holder of “Polityka” Passport Prize, four “Fryderyk” Music Awards, as well as London Music Masters Award, the first violinist of Karol Szymanowski Quartet holds post-doctorate degree and works as professor at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Ambassador of 16th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition (in the picture), she is winner of the 2022 Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej (Coryphaeus of Polish Music) Award in the category Personality of the Year.
"As Chair, I am certain to get tremendous support from the Society’s Office, as well as from members of the new Board. Together we will be able to build not only the most recognisable element of the Society’s operation, i.e. International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, but also other events, such as the international violin-making competition, festivals, national events (here, it is the upcoming Zdzisław Jahnke competition which precedes the Wieniawski event that is worth mentioning). Ideas abound. My dream is to expand the range of our activities into, say, education, into projects undertaken with the young generation in mind. There are countless talents in Poland, not only in the violin category, but in other instruments, too. If we were to find a niche in our operation whereby we could support such young talents in the form of, say, a scholarship fund for the young, I would be happy." - said Agata Szymczewska.
The remaining Members of the Board – which in the current term consists in seven persons – are:
- Karolina Kaźmierczak,
- Monika Kusz,
- Alina Mądry,
- Bartłomiej Nizioł – Deputy Chair,
- Przemysław Olejnik,
- Włodzimierz Walkowiak.
Karolina Kaźmierczak remains General Manager of the Society’s Office.
We want to express our gratitude to the outgoing authorities of the Society for their involvement and dedication in the work to further goals of the association, as well as wish new Members of the Board success in the years to come.
The Wieniawski Society, organiser of the prestigious International Henryk Wieniawski Violin and Violin-Making Competitions, brings together artists-musicians, cultural and scholarly personalities, musical life organisers and music lovers, as well as promotes the legacy of its outstanding patron. It collects memorabilia and documents associated with the composer, as well as publishes materials on violin playing, as well as on life and art of Henryk Wieniawski. The Society continues the tradition of the oldest Poznań-based secular music association, the Koło Śpiewackie Polskie (Polish Song Community) which was established on 2 May 1885.
