Biography

I have always been surrounded by music. My mother was a choral conductor when I was born and I spent my first moments on Earth backstage immersed in the sound of the first instrument – the human voice. She gave it up for a smaller, pensioner ladies’ choir and would often take me to rehearsals where, aged 6, I played with a broken violin with flying strings until one day I said I wanted to play. I went through try-outs for music school and got in. I loved the process but at that time it was still filled with strict post-Soviet teaching that did little to inspire playing but a lot to inspire fear. So as to not kill my joy my mother found the only Suzuki method teacher in the area at the time who taught with so much passion, love and patience you simply couldn’t not want to practise and keep learning. I know there are many speculations and negative talk about the Suzuki school, mostly due to American influence, but back then when it was first introduced in Poland it was something so different, so engaging and magical – I have not a single bad memory and to this day think I progressed and fell in love with playing mostly due to the method.

I spent the next few years playing many group, chamber, orchestral and solo concerts with my teacher, as well as going to summer workshops and working with children all over the world to make music. Playing and making music together is a crucial part of the Suzuki method and it started a strong love and lifelong passion for orchestral music in me. At the same time I was continuing public music school education in my country as that was the only way to formally progress.

At 17 it came to my first big decision. At the time I was waking up at 5 am to practise, going to school for 8–3 pm, music school until 8 pm, then home for more practice and homework, and it was the first real sacrifice I made for my music education. The schedule was unrealistic and hard to keep up, but a teacher at the time suggested trying for a specialist music school. I got in and moved 2 hours away from home to continue my music education. It was hard at times being away from everything I knew and the relationship with my teacher there didn’t inspire my playing very much. When it came to choosing universities 2 years later I did not choose music. I applied to study politics and international relations and got a conditional place. It wasn’t until March, when we had a big orchestral project, that my eyes and my heart were opened to what I really wanted to do. I emailed major London conservatoires asking for late admission dates and applied the next day. It seemed like a divine power was helping me with the application process and timing, and I shed just a few happy tears when I found out I had a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama starting September.

Moving to London was a dream come true. I was working with the best, playing and practising in beautiful venues for the next 6 years of my undergraduate and master’s programme. I got to experience some of the biggest musical highs and lows of my life. It wasn’t easy – there were weeks at the time where I worked 6 days a week for 14 hours a day to do everything I needed to – but I am doing what I love the most and it has now granted me a place within the Sinfonia programme that I am so excited about.

At this point I don’t think I could live without music. There is something magically transcendent about making it with other people, about existing in the moment of pure creation, of understanding the same idea despite differences and creating unity.

In my free time I love exploring new things, whether it’s reading or researching a new area of interest, walking around London and finding new corners, or travelling and seeing new cities. Art, architecture and photography are a second love in my life and I like planning my travels around the museums I can see there. My favourites are MoMA for their Picasso and American artists, the Neue Gallery in New York where I saw my first Klimt – The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer – and the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Vienna and Florence are next on my list – I’m very excited to see more Klimt and Botticelli’s Venus. My favourite London museum must be Tate Britain – far quieter than the rest, with an incredible collection.