Malwina Sosnowski, Instrumental soloist (violin)
Biography
Born 9 September 1985, Riehen, Basel /Instrument: violin
Musical training: In July this year, Malwina Sosnowski, born in Basel but with Polish roots, graduated as soloist with distinction at the Hochschule der Künste Bern in the class of Benjamin Schmid, and won the sponsorship award of the Eduard Tschumi Foundation.
Malwina Sosnowski began playing the violin at the age of five, at first with her mother and then at the Musikschule Riehen. A short time later, she was accepted at the Pflüger Foundation for talented young people in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, where she regularly attended classes by Prof. Wolfgang Marschner as well as practising with her mother.
At the age of 14, she became a young student at the Musikhochschule Basel (class of Raphael Oleg) while simultaneously attending secondary school.
For the period 2006-2009, she received a “full merit-based” scholarship at the famous Curtis Institute of Music in the USA. In June 2009, she attained her Bachelor of Arts in Music following three years of studies in the classes of Ida Kavafian and Joseph Silverstein. She attained her soloist diploma with distinction at the HKB in the class of the Austrian star violinist Benjamin Schmid (2009-2011).
She has attended master classes by Hillary Hahn, Pierre Amoyal, Boris Kushnir and Ana Chumachenko.
Musical activities: Malwina Sosnowski had her first appearance in front of the camera at the tender age of six when she appeared on Polish television. Various radio and television recordings followed, including WQXR New York, Radio France, Espace 2, SF1/SF2, RSR und DRS, and for Chinese and Argentinean radio and TV stations. Malwina Sosnowski has performed concerts with the Orquestra de Budafok under Schlomo Mintz, the symphony orchestras of Basel, Zurich and Bern, and the chamber orchestras of Zurich and Bern, among others. She has appeared as guest musician at the Stadtcasino in Bern, the Zurich Tonhalle and the Stadtcasino Basel. She has also played with orchestras from the USA and Argentina.
In 2010, she debuted in the Philharmonie Berlin with the Deutschen Kammerorchester Berlin under Israel Yinon. She has played as soloist and chamber musician at various festivals at home and abroad. But Sosnowski does not only appear as a soloist: in 2008 she founded Duo Raro with the Turin-born pianist Riccardo Bovino. In April 2011, they appeared, for example at the Les Museiques festival in Basel where the premier of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Stück in Fünf Teilen took place.
In 2011, she played the rarely performed 2nd Violin Concerto by Bohuslav Martinu with the Berner Sinfonieorchester. In June 2011, she played Beethoven’s Triple Concerto at the Victoria Hall in Geneva – together with the Orchestre Sinfonique Genevois under Herve Klopfenstein. In July, she assisted her former teacher Benjamin Schmid at a masterclass at the Hochschule der Künste Bern.
Malwina Sosnowski plays a violin made by Lorenzo Storioni in the 18th century from Florian Leonhard’s violin shop in London.
show more
Repertoire focal points
Romantic to modern and jazz-crossover. As Duo Raro: violin and piano. As soloist: violin with symphony and chamber orchestras
Programme focal points 2009-2011:
With symphony orchestras: Martinu 2nd Violin Concerto, Prokofiev 2nd Violin Concerto, Sibelius Violin Concerto, Mozart Violin Concerto in A/D major, Dvorzak Romanze
With chamber orchestras: Hartmann Concerto funebre, Mendelssohn Concerto in D minor for violin and piano, Vivaldi concertos, Haydn concertos, Schubert rondos, Bach Violin Concert in E major, various arrangements by Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky.
As Duo Raro (selection): Messiaen Theme et Variations, Stravinsky Divertimento, Ravel Violinsonate, Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata, Honegger Violin Sonata, Saint Saens Etude en forme de Valse, Skoumal Variations about a Gipsy Melody, Suk 4 Stücke, Debussy Violin Sonata, virtuoso works by Paganini/Isaye/Wieniawski
Awards
- 2011: Eduard Tschumi Prize for the best soloist diploma at the Hochschule der Künste Bern
- 2011: highest prize of the Kiefer-Hablitzel Foundation
- 2011: scholarship from the Ernst-Göhner Foundation
- 2010: scholarship from Migros Culture Percentage
- 2010: Rahn Music Prize for Stringed Instruments
- 2009: Violin Award, Verbier Festival Academy
- 2009: Milka Award, Curtis Institute of Music
- 2009: 4th Prize at the Tibor Varga Competition
- 2006: Riehener Kulturpreis
- 2006: 1st Prize at the Swiss Youth and Music Competition with award and special prize from the Ruth und Ernst Burkhalter Foundation
- 2006: 1st prize at the International Violin Competition A. Postacchini in Fermo (I)
Reviews
Kabarettistische Achterbahn, ZO/AvU, 9.Mai 2011 Kultur im Dreiland - emergent talent