Krzysztof Smietana FGS

“Everything about his playing is geared towards a musical purity” wrote The Times about award-winning violinist Krzysztof Smietana.

Mr Smietana was born in Poland where he also graduated from the Music Academy in Kraków. As a protégé of Yfrah Neaman, (a disciple of Carl Flesh, Jacques Thibaud and Max Rostal), he has received a British scholarship for postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he now teaches.

He is a prize-winner of major international competitions such as Carl Flesh in London (including the audience prize), Fritz Kreisler in Vienna, Long-Thibaud in Paris, Gorizia in Italy, Brahms in Hamburg. Mr Smietana has made many concerto and recital appearances throughout Britain as well as Europe, USA, Canada, South America, Middle East and Japan.

As a soloist he has collaborated with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Valery GIergiev, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Alexander Gibson, Sir Charles Groves, David Atherton, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Antoni Witt, Gabriel Chmura, Jiří Bělohlávek, Mathias Bamert. Mr Smietana has made many recordings and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, including the highly acclaimed performances of both Szymanowski’s Violin Concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The BBC Symphony Orchestra also accompanied him as a soloist during the PROMS Festival at Royal Albert Hall in London.

Mr Smietana’s recording of Panufnik’s Violin Concerto with London Musici for Conifer, which took place in the presence of the composer, became the CD of the month in the CD Reviews Magazine. He has played the concerto throughout Europe prompting The STRAD Magazine to comment on his “beautifully controlled, slow bowing and languorous vibrato”.

Mr Smietana has also recorded Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Stravinsky’s close friend and expert of his music, Robert Craft, Fauré’s Sonatas with John Blakely for Meridian, Brahms’ Sonatas with Caroline Palmer for ASV, Respighi and Bussoni with Colin Stone, as well as numerous CDs with the London Mozart Trio and Trio Cracovia.

In addition to his activities as a soloist and chamber musician he has appeared as a guest concertmaster of British and Polish orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Sinfonietta and Capella Cracoviensis.

“… even nowadays, when there is no shortage of violinists of calibre, he stands out for the smoothness and beauty of his tone and the absolute reliability of both his pitch and bowing” - The Strad.