From December 7th until December 21st 2018, for the first in post-war Poland, Stradivarius has come in to the hands of Janusz Wawrowski. A virtuoso, one of the greatest Polish violinist of his generation, Wawrowski has been granted the opportunity to exclusively play these exceptional violins. It is all thanks to the sponsors Roman Ziemian and Stephan Morgenstern, the founders of the FutureNet portal.
The violins were given the honorable name of “Polonia” December 4th of 2018 and have been deposited in a glass case specially made for them, for public presentation. The construction of the display glass case will allow the removal of the existing safety barrier and bring the visitor closer to this rare instrument and observe all its structural nuances.
Stradivarius is considered to be the greatest violins ever made. These special kind of violins have been handcrafted by the master luthier Antonio Stradivari. Stradivari was believed to have been born in Cremona, Italy in 1644. Although the details of his childhood — including his birth place and how he managed to become the most skilled luthier in Cremona Italy — are not certain. One thing is undoubted though; Stradivari dedicated his life to crafting and perfecting the violin. He reached prominence within his lifetime and has gained even more admiration and recognition since his death more than 250 years ago.
Stradivari designed and crafted more than 1,000 violins and instruments during his lifetime, nearly 650 of which still exist today. These violins and instruments are considered the finest ever made and continue to be the greatest in terms of their form, sound and beauty.
However, there is a caveat; they only work in the hands of the greatest virtuosos. They are capricious, like a living organism and only the genuinely highly skilled players bring out their full potential. Janusz Wawrowski has yearned them for years, believing that their absence marginalizes Polish artists in the international arena.
This Stradivarius is much more than a great violin. It is the ambassador of our music in the world. It’s story and amazing sound arouses interest immediately, whenever I mention it and whenever the Stradivarius appears! says Janusz Wawrowski
Before the Second World War Poland owned Stradivarius. Unfortunately, all these extremely valuable instruments were removed, sold or handed over. Now, for the first time in the post-war history of Poland, we have “our” Stradivarius. What’s more – it is an absolutely unique instrument!
Janusz Wawrowski is the only violinist with a long-term contract with Warner Classics and a laureate of the Phonographic Academy Fryderyk 2017 Award for classical music – album of the year, solo recital. He is a graduate and lecturer at the Music University of Fryderyk Chopin in Warsaw. Wawrowski is a laureate of many international violin competitions. He gave concerts at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Musikverein in Vienna, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic, and the Conservatory.