Cecylia Arzewski (born March 31, 1948) is a Polish violinist.

Early life and education

Cecylia Arzewski was born to Polish-Jewish parents in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, Poland. Both of her parents, Bronislawa and Stanislaw Arzewski, and her brother Michael Arzewski (born 1938) were Holocaust survivors. Arzewski and her brother Michael (a pianist) both received the American-Israeli cultural foundation scholarship in 1957. Michael Arzewski went on to study at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

with Eduard Steuermann and Mieczyslaw Munz. Her father Stanislaw Arzewski was a pianist as well as a major musical influence on his daughter. He came from a large musical family in Warsaw. His father Josef Arzewski was a concertmaster in Warsaw prior to WW2. According to Stanislaw Arzewski, there never was a shortage of perfect pitch in the family, which Cecylia Arzewski inherited. She began her violin studies with E. Kawalla at the age of five. After moving to Israel, she studied at the Tel Aviv Conservatory with Odeon Partos. In 1960 when the family moved to the US, she studied with

Ivan Galamian Ivan Alexander Galamian (; April 14, 1981) was an Armenian-American violin teacher of the twentieth century who was the violin teacher of many seminal violin players including Itzhak Perlman and Kyung Wha Chung. Biography Galamian was born in ...

at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1967 Arzewski moved to Boston, MA and studied at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

with Joseph Silverstein, who became her mentor. She studied with Joseph Silverstein until 1975. She also coached with Josef Gingold,

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and

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Career

In 1969, Arzewski played with the

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York led by Music Director JoAnn Falletta. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Each season it ...

as a principal 2nd violinist. Five months later, she auditioned for the

Boston Symphony The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO perfor ...

and became a member of the 2nd violin section working with William Steinberg. When she joined the Boston Symphony in 1970, she became the youngest tenured violinist in the history of the orchestra. In 1978, she rose to the position of Assistant Concertmaster and continued her work with

Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After cond ...

. In 1987, Arzewski joined the Cleveland Orchestra as Associate Concertmaster, working with Music Director

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. She served as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster from 1990 to 2008, working with Music Directors

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and Robert Spano. By assuming this position, she became the first female concertmaster of a major American orchestra. Over the course of her distinguished orchestral career, prior to arriving in Atlanta, Arzewski performed under the batons of William Steinberg, Eric Leinsdorf,

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, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnanyi,

, Lorin Mazel, and

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. Arzewski owned and played for the bulk of her career a violin by Pietro Guarnerius of Mantua, 1714, titled "Geza de Kresz, ex Caressa". After stepping down from her position as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster, Arzewski became the Artistic Director for the 2008 and 2009 North Georgia Music Festivals. In 2019, Arzewski authored the book "Gustav's Gate" for a young audience between the ages of 7 and 12. This story features a dog named Gustav, found sick in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It aims to encourage a love of the arts in children.

Solo concerto appearances

Her concerto appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra featured the following pieces: Wieniawski Concerto Op. 22 No. 2 in D minor, Mendelssohn Concerto Op. 64 in E minor, Berg Violin Concerto, Bach Double Violin Concerto BVW 1043 (with Iona Brown performing and conducting), Conus Violin Concerto, Mozart Concerto in D Major K. 218, Bartok Violin Concerto, Mozart Symphonie Concertante in E Flat Major K 365 (with

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman (; born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman. He began his musica ...

performing and conducting), Bach Double Violin Concerto BVW 1043 (with Joseph Silverstein performing and conducting), Beethoven Triple Concerto Op. 56, Beethoven Concerto Op. 61 in D Major, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Brahms Violin Concerto, Earl Kim Violin Concerto, Brahms Double with Sarah Santabrogio, Hartmann, Violin Concerto, and Prokofiev Violin Concerto #2 Op. 63. She made a concerto appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra in the playing of Conus, Violin Concerto. Her concerto appearances with the Boston Pops included Wieniawski, Concerto Op. 22, No 2 in D minor Mozart, Conus Violin Concerto, Mendelssohn Concerto Op. 64 in E minor, Mozart Concerto for Violin No. 4 in D major K. 218, and Camille Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals. She made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall. She made other Carnegie Hall concerto appearances for Bach Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin and the Three Concertmasters Concert.

Chamber music appearances

Arzewski has performed in Boston, New York City, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Lieges Paris with artists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Emanuel Ax, Andrew Watts, Joseph Silverstein, Philippe Entremont, Iona Brown, and Lois Shapiro.

Awards and honors

In 1978, Arzewski was an award winner at the Twentieth Bach International Competition at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, M.D. Following this accomplishment, she performed an unaccompanied Bach solo recital at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. Since her 1978 success, Arzewski has become involved with the International Bach Competition as a member of the 2014 and 2018 competition juries. Arzewski has also appeared as a soloist with the

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...

and the Boston Pops. She toured Europe on two occasions playing the Mozart D major and Stravinsky violin concertos. Arzewski has also performed chamber music with artists such as Emanuel Ax and André Watts.

Discography

Solo recordings

* Kim Violin Concerto with William Wolfram, Robert Kim, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland *BACH: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin BWV 1001-1006 (BRIDGE: BRIDGE9358A-B 2CD mid-price)

Orchestral recording with concertmaster solo

* Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade * Mahler, Symphonies #2, 4, 5, 8, 10 * Stravinsky, Pulcinella * Shostakovich, Symphony #10 * Gustav Holst, The Planets * Ravel, Daphne and Chloe * Schoenberg, Verklarte Nach, Pellease und Melissande * Vaughan Williams, Sea Symphony *Stravinsky, Rite of Spring * Beethoven, Overtures * Rossini, Overtures * Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition * Prokofiev, Symphonies #1 and #5 * Simbelius, Symphonies #1, 2, 5 * Haydn Creation * Hindemith, Mathis der Maler * Mendellsohn, Symphony #4 and Midsummer Night's Dream * Brahms, Serenade #1 and Variations on a Theme by Haydn * Dvorak, Slavonic Dances * Barber CD with Sylvia McNair * CD with Andre Watts – Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arzewski, Cecylia 1948 births Living people Polish classical violinists Polish women violinists Musicians from Kraków Concertmasters of the Cleveland Orchestra Concertmasters of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Players of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra