Konstanty Kulka

Konstanty Kulka (Konstanty Andrzej Kulka) is a Polish violinist and teacher born (in Gdansk, Poland) on March 5, 1947.  Kulka spends most of his time in Europe, although he has toured around the world, playing with most major orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony.  Kulka has also played at many of the world’s music festivals, including ones in Lucerne, Berlin, Prague, Barcelona, and Warsaw.  He began studying violin at age 8 with Ludwig Gbiorczyk.  At 24, he graduated from the Stanislaw Moniuszco Academy of Music (Gdansk) in 1971, where his primary teacher was Stefan Herman.  He had, however, already started concertizing in 1967.  In fact, at age 17, he entered and received first prize at the German International ARD Radio Competition in Munich (in 1964.)  He first appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic on February 28, 1982, playing Krzysztof Penderecki’s second violin concerto.  He was 34 years old.  In 1984, he was appointed violin soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic.  In 1994, Kulka was appointed violin professor at the Frederick Chopin School of Music in Warsaw.  As far as I know, he is still teaching there.  Kulka has recorded extensively and champions the music of modern Polish composers.  Among the standard concertos he has in his discography are the Mozart, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Lalo, Bartok, Prokofiev, Brahms, and Glazunov.  In addition, he has recorded for many television and radio programs.  Here is a video of his performance of the Mieczyslaw Karlowicz concerto.  Karlowicz was a Polish composer who showed great promise but who, unfortunately, died very young (at age 32.)  Here is an audio file of the first movement of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol.  In 1981, Kulka received the Grand Prix du Disque for his recording of both Karol Szymanowski concertos.  The Polish government has also bestowed several official honors on Kulka. 

Paul Kochanski

Paul Kochanski was a Polish violinist, composer, teacher, and arranger born on September 14, 1887 (Brahms was 54 years old.) He first studied with his father then, at age 7, with Emil Mlynarski, one of the founders of the Warsaw Philharmonic. In 1901, Mlynarski, having by then become a conductor, invited the then fourteen-year-old Kochanski to be concertmaster of the Philharmonic. That probably made him – with the possible exception of Amadeus Mozart – the youngest concertmaster in history. In 1903, Kochanski found himself in Brussels, at the Brussels Conservatory. By 1908, he was touring Europe with Artur Rubinstein. He became professor of violin at the Warsaw Conservatory in 1909 and was there until 1911. In 1916, Karol Szymanowski dedicated his first violin concerto to Kochanski, who had written the cadenza for it. In that same year, he took over for Leopold Auer at the St Petersburg Conservatory. He also taught for a year (1919-1920) at the Kiev Conservatory. During this time, he advised Prokofiev on matters of technique having to do with Prokofiev’s first violin concerto. Kochanski made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1921, playing Brahms' violin concerto. From 1922, he lived in New York, becoming the head of the violin teaching staff at Juilliard (1924-1934.) In 1933, Kochanski premiered Szymanowski’s second violin concerto and again, Szymanowski dedicated the work to him. On January 12, 1934, at age 47, Kochanski died, though not unexpectedly. Among his pall bearers were Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, and Efrem Zimbalist. Among Kochanski's pupils was Jacques Singer.