Justyna Marianna Szynkarczyk

Flute

Year:: 2026/27
Born:: Warsaw, Poland
Sponsor:: Justyna Marianna Szynkarczyk's place at Sinfonia Smith Square is generously supported by Dave Usher

Biography

I grew up between two quite different worlds. My mum is a pianist, and music was part of my life before, and immediately after I was born. While pregnant with me, she was regularly singing in a well-established Polish choir, and some of my earliest memories are of sitting on her lap while she practised Chopin. My dad is an engineer, so when I wasn’t surrounded by music, I was building little robots with him or visiting his workplace to meet the real ones. There are plenty of childhood photos of me being lifted several metres into the air by a robot with a giant gripper!

I started playing the flute at seven at the Grażyna Bacewicz State Music School No. 3 in Warsaw, Poland, where I was lucky to study with Professor Marzena Niciewicz for all twelve years. I look back on my time there with great fondness, as it shaped so much of who I am today.

My love for the flute was closely connected to my obsession with The Lord of the Rings and its soundtrack, which eventually developed into a fascination with film music. During my teenage years, flutes from around the world became recurring birthday and Christmas presents. I gradually built a collection including Irish tin whistles, Chinese dizi, Indian bansuris, Japanese shakuhachi, a reconstruction of an Ice Age flute, and more. Exploring different musical cultures through their flutes remains a passion of mine today.

At 19, I moved to London specifically to study at Guildhall and get closer to the film music world. I arrived focused on recording soundtracks but graduated six years later with a much broader range of musical interests and skills, thanks to many inspiring teachers, particularly Professor Ian Clarke and Professor Gareth Davies. Along the way, I discovered contemporary techniques and new music, electronics and electronic music production, improvisation, recording, chamber and orchestral playing, and a real passion for outreach work.

Early in my time at Guildhall, I also formed Yavara Duo with my close friend and harpist Emilia. It has since become a major part of my musical life, and this year we recorded our debut album.

Today, I’m a freelance flautist in London, with film and session recording, chamber music and orchestral playing at the heart of my career, while continuing to nurture the versatility that has become so important to me as a musician.

Outside music, I love playing video games, especially anything set in an epic fantasy world, good food (despite having very little interest in cooking!), cats, swimming, and squishy toys.

Education

Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London

Grażyna Bacewicz State Music School No.3, Poland

Quickfire Questions

What is your favourite piece of music and why do you love it?

“Concerning Hobbits” by Howard Shore from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. This piece feels like home to me. I have a strong childhood connection to it from watching the films with my family and completely immersing myself in that world and story. It has stayed with me throughout my life and inspired me to pursue music and the flute, especially because of the famous solo by Sir James Galway, whom I was very honoured to later meet and learn from.

Where’s your favourite place to listen to music and why?

Definitely while travelling, whether I’m commuting, driving a car or flying on a plane somewhere. It’s when I can give the music almost my full attention and really connect with its stories. But my favourite place of all is much more specific: lying in a hammock in the garden of my family’s cottage in Poland, looking up at the tree branches and the sky. I only get to be there once every year, which makes this place even more special.

How would you persuade someone who has never heard ‘classical music’ before to come with you to a concert?

I’ve actually done this many times with my non-musician friends in London! I always lead with the story behind the music. Before we go, I’ll tell them what the piece is about, who wrote it and why, so their imagination is already running when they hear it. Of course, it’s even easier if I’m performing, because they immediately have a personal connection to things happening on stage. But I’ve found that people don’t usually need that much persuading. If they’ve never experienced classical music before, they’re often genuinely curious about that world and just need the right opportunity to come and discover it.

What do you do with your time when you’re not playing music?

The first thing I’ll usually do in my free time is play video games. I play a huge range, from epic stories set in fantasy worlds, which are usually my favourites, to games about cleaning, organising or unpacking. I also love swimming, and for me a holiday has to involve swimming somewhere. There’s something about being around water that gives me energy, so in London I love walking along the Thames or going to the swimming pool. I’m also a big cinema fan, especially seeing a great film on a big screen with proper speakers and hearing the soundtrack that way. And from time to time, I enjoy wandering around fancy London streets imagining my future mansion.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?

I would definitely be a simultaneous interpreter. Learning languages has always come quite naturally to me. In a way, simultaneous interpreting reminds me of performing as a musician: you’re under pressure, everything is happening in real time, and you have to stay completely focused and react instantly. It’s an incredibly demanding job that really puts your brain to work, which is probably exactly why I’d enjoy it.

What’s your most memorable moment as a musician?

My most memorable moment as a musician actually happened when I was seven, during my first year of music school. For almost the entire year, I struggled to make a proper sound on the flute. I physically couldn’t form and hold the embouchure, so a good sound was only occasional, which was incredibly frustrating. Then one day, during yet another practice session at home, something suddenly clicked. I made a good sound, tried again, and it worked again! It happened just before my very first flute exam, where I ended up receiving the highest possible mark. From then on, it felt like a whole new world had opened up because I could finally start playing all the melodies I’d been longing to play. Unsurprisingly, many of them were from films, the first one being the theme from “Indiana Jones”.

What’s the best bit of live music you’ve ever seen?

One of the live performances that has stayed with me the most was from my first experience of London’s classical music scene after moving here, when everything still felt new and unfamiliar. It was the LSO playing Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé”, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican. I had prepared for it by learning the story and studying the music, and I brought the score with me to follow during the concert. I remember being completely immersed and finding the whole performance magical. The famous flute solo, beautifully played by Gareth Davies, was particularly inspiring to me. I think it was also one of those early moments that gave me a sense that I had come to the right place, and that London was where I wanted to be.

Biography

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