Eugenia Umińska (4 October 1910,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

– 20 November 1980,

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 ...

) was a Polish

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist. Student of the Warsaw Conservatory. From 1915 to 1918, she was a member of the Warsaw Music Society, where she was a student of Mieczysław Michałowicz. From 1919 till 1927 she studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Józef Jarzębski. She completed her development with

Otakar Ševčík Otakar Ševčík (22 March 185218 January 1934) was a Czechs, Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a Solo (music), soloist and an Musical ensemble, ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe. ...

(1927–1928) and

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanians, Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, teacher and statesman. He is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Biography En ...

(1932–1934). In the years 1932–1934 she was the

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

of the Orchestra of the Polish Radio in

, and following this in 1937 became the second concertmaster of the Warsaw Philharmonic. At the same time, she was first violin in the string quartet of the Warsaw music society and member of the Polish string quartet. Playing in a duo with

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

she influenced similar compositions. During the 1940s she performed as soloist with orchestras in many countries. During the German occupation, a regular concert career was not possible, and instead she formed a piano trio with Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (cellist) and pianist Maria Wiłkomirska, which appeared regularly at a cafe-house in Zachęta-Gebäude. She took part in close to a hundred concerts before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

she refused an offer to play for the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, went into hiding and joined the Polish resistance (

Armia Krajowa The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

) as a medic. She took part in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, was captured by the

but managed to escape during transit. After the war she became a professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków, and Academy's Rector between 1964 and 1966. She was active in various music-related organizations, and a judge in many musical competitions in Poland and abroad.

External links

Umińska – MUGI, Hamburg
* Eugenia Umíńska performance of

Violin concerto No 1, accompanied by

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

, Grzegorz Fitelberg conductor ( rec. of 1948The link was active in 23 March 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Z84acwwOQ

References

1910 births 1980 deaths Musicians from Warsaw Home Army members Polish violinists Polish women violinists Warsaw Uprising insurgents Chopin University of Music alumni Academic staff of the Academy of Music in Kraków Polish female soldiers Polish soldiers 20th-century Polish classical violinists Women classical violinists 20th-century Polish women musicians Polish music educators Polish women music educators 20th-century Polish women Women in World War II Concertmasters {{Poland-musician-stub