Professor Blazej Sroczynski

Professor Blazej Sroczynski

Professor Blazej Sroczynski studied the viola with Professor Jan Rakowski at the Academy of Music in Poznan, and graduated in 1963. He started his concert career as a student and is the only violist in Poland and one of the very few in the world who plays the viola d'amore. In 1961 he won the third prize at the First Polish Academic Early Music Competition in Lodz.

Professor Sroczynski was the first violist at the Warsaw Opera (Teatr Wielki) in 1961-73. He then worked as concertmaster of the Iran National Radio and Television Orchestra in Teheran (1973-1975) and the Malmö Philharmonic in Sweden. He has been a member of the Warsaw Opera String Quartet since 1962 and the concertmaster of the viola group at the Warsaw Opera since 1976. He had also been a member of the Polish Quartet and the Grazyna Bacewicz Quartet with which he has given concerts in Germany, France, the former Soviet Union, Mexico and Cuba. Together with the Collegium Musicae Antique ensemble he has made many recordings for radio, television, and record companies.

Professor Sroczynski began his pedagogical career in 1960, as a teacher at the Musical High School in Poznan. From 1966 till 1973 he was employed at the Academy of Music in Poznan. Since 1976 he has been employed at the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Many of Professor Sroczynski's students have won awards at prestigious competitions and have received leading positions in chamber and symphonic orchestras in Poland and abroad (e.g., Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland). As the Chairman of the Department of Orchestral Instruments, Professor Sroczynski has contributed considerably to the artistic achievements of the Chopin Academy Symphonic Orchestra. He has provided outstanding Polish and foreign conductors for the orchestra. Owing to the orchestra's high artistic level, a regular series of concerts, known as Wednesday at the Academy of Music, was introduced. In 1999-2005 he was prorector for Student Affairs.

Professor Sroczynski has received numerous honours and awards for his artistic and pedagogical work.

Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music