Daniel Stabrawa is a Polish violinist,
teacher, and conductor born (in Krakow) on August 23, 1955. He is very well-known as the concertmaster of
the Berlin Philharmonic and easily one of the best concertmasters in the
world. In addition, as almost all
concertmasters have done for centuries, he performs as soloist or chamber music
player as often as he can. Stabrawa began
his violin lessons at age 7. He later
studied with Zbigniew Szlezer at the Music Academy in Krakow. He entered the Paganini violin competition in
1978 and came in a respectable sixth place.
He became concertmaster of the Polish Radio Symphony in Krakow in
1979. He was 24 years old. He probably worked somewhere else prior to
this but I don’t know where. In 1980 he
again entered the Paganini violin competition and again came in sixth
place. He first joined the Berlin
Philharmonic in 1983. He was 28 years
old. Herbert Von Karajan was chief
conductor back then. Three years later,
Stabrawa was appointed concertmaster – actually one of three concertmasters. (German orchestras usually hire three
concertmasters considered equals – they are known as first concertmasters. They also hire two or three concertmasters of
lower rank. It is very unusual for all
three first concertmasters to be present for even a few concerts; however, it
is also highly unusual for all three first concertmasters to be absent at the
same time so this arrangement guarantees that a first concertmaster is always available
to play. Therefore, an associate or
assistant concertmaster rarely gets to sit in the first chair.) In 1985, Stabrawa began playing – as first
violinist – in the Philharmonia Quartet (with Christian Stadelmann on second violin, Neithard Resa on viola, and Jan Diesselhorst on cello - Dietmar Schwalke replaced Diesselhorst in 1999. All are Berlin Philharmonic players.) Here is a YouTube video of the quartet playing a movement from the second of
Beethoven’s Opus 59 quartets. The
quartet recently completed recording all of Beethoven’s string quartets. Stabrawa taught at the Orchestra Academy of
the Berlin Philharmonic for fourteen years - from 1986 to 2000. In 1994, he took an interest in
conducting. He began conducting the
Capella Bydgostsiensis Chamber Orchestra in 1995 (possibly 1994) and conducted
it for at least seven years, although I do not know if he is still conducting
that ensemble. It resides in Bydgoszcz,
Poland, about 225 miles northeast of Berlin and 175 miles northwest of
Warsaw. He has been quoted as saying
that he actually conducts very little, which is understandable given the heavy
concert schedule maintained by the Berlin orchestra. He has stated: “If you can direct, that helps
a lot as concertmaster. Orchestra
musicians have always felt they could do better than the conductor. But when you stand in front, you realize:
Conducting's like playing the violin, you have to have an incredible technique;
you need to know how it works. Every
little wrong movement is transferred to the orchestra. Conducting is as hard as playing
violin.” In 2008, he founded the
Stabrawa Ensemble Berlin. As far as
recording, Stabrawa has recorded most of the orchestral repertoire as a
concertmaster, though he has also recorded some solo works. His solos in Korsakov’s Scheherazade are
second to none (and I should say I have heard quite a few.) His sound has always been described as being
very beautiful. You can judge for
yourself here (in a short video, playing one of Jeno Hubay’s concertos with his
Berlin colleagues) and here, playing a Wieniawski piece (Opus 20.) This one features him with Nigel Kennedy
playing a little-known duo concerto by Vivaldi. Stabrawa has played a violin by Francesco Ruggeri from 1674 and might still be playing it - of that I am not certain.
