Biography
Polish violinist Jolanta Sosnowska possesses a unique fusion of versatility, strength, and sensitivity in both her playing and stage presence – a combination that is earning her the acclaim of audiences and critics alike.
Ms. Sosnowska is a winner of The Paul Rolland Memorial Violin Competition in the USA and finalist of several prestigious music competitions in Austria including The International Heinrich Biber Competition. Her unique expertise of performing historical and contemporary violin has quickly opened many European concert hall doors for her. Since her Wiener Konzerthaus debut Jolanta’s passionate playing and the deep feelings she expresses has resonated with audiences and musicians all over the world, including musical centers like Vienna, Innsbruck, Amsterdam, Basel, Prag, Warsaw, Brugge, Chicago, Mexico, Tokyo and Lima. She has performed at concert venues including the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Jerusalem Theater, the Concertgebouw Bruges, the Berliner Konzerthaus, and the Rudolfinum. Jolanta was a guest at the major festivals in Europe including the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, the Resonanzen, the Musica Antiqua Festival, the Tartini Festival, the Vendsyssel Festival, the Bach Festival Ansbach, and the Misteria Paschalia. In recognition to her talent, she was also chosen by the Dutch Jumpstart Jr. Foundation to perform and record in the famous Amsterdam Concertgebouw in Holland.
Described as volcanic, instinctual, and totally committed, Jolanta gives concerts throughout the world with unusually wide and strikingly varied repertoire. It encompasses the full span of masterworks for violin, together with unknown baroque music and new contemporary works composed for her. Known for her unique approach and the use of techniques that challenge stereotypes, Jolanta was honored premiere works by European composers such as Nikolet Burzyńska, Marcin T. Łukaszewski, Peter Rompf, Mons Leidvin Takle and Akos Banlaky.
Her commitment to the “discovery” of the composer Marian Sawa, for which Sosnowska has rendered particularly outstanding services in recent years, should also be emphasized. In 2016 NAXOS released the World Premiere album recorded by Jolanta Sosnowska with Sawa’s Violin Works. In 2017 the CD received prestigious nomination for the Polish Grammy Award Fryderyk.
As a scholar of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Sosnowska is about to start a European Tour with a unique composition cycle entitled ‘Novae Sonatae Rosarii’ dedicated to her by Piotr Tabakiernik. His exceptional Sonatas, the most challenging sound experiment ever, require usage of 20 different Violins (with Scordatura) and will be performed on specially and thoughtfully built instruments made and kindly loaned by the distinguished Polish Luthier Mariusz Kacprzak. The Premiere of the unique work took place in the Musikverein in Vienna in December 2022.
Extraordinary capability and impressive technical possibilities.
– Robert Ratajczak, Longplay
A truly versatile artist, Jolanta, having lived in Vienna since 2005, Jolanta has also developed a distinct fascination for the Austrian Culture over the years. This fascination led her to iniciate a concert series Jolanta Sosnowska & Friends: Barockvioline Unentdeckt – Virtuoses aus Wien. This compelling festival is dedicated to the unknown violin works from the baroque music collections of the Austrian National Library (Musica Leopoldina, Musica Carolina and so called Estensiche Musikalien) and is held in the most spectacular baroque venues of the Austrian Capital.
As a committed chamber musician, Jolanta has had the pleasure to collaborate with a number of prominent ensembles such as Ars Antiqua Austria, Altomonte Ensemble, Collegium Wartberg, Ensemble vita & anima, Tiroler Barockinstrumentalisten, as well as Swiss formations like Die Freitagsakademie Bern and La Cetra Basel. She has been a guest Concertmaster of the St. Augustin Imperial Church Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to weekly performances of the First Viennese School sacred music by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and also Schubert.
A diligent advocate of unknown music, Jolanta has made numerous astounding CD albums released by labels like Naxos, Gramola, Pan Classics, Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, Acte Prealable, Musikmuseum and For Tune. Many of them enjoyed wide critical acclaim and were world phonographic premiers. Jolanta has also recorded a number of concerts, documentaries and programs for the Austrian Radio ORF, Radio Stephansdom, Mexican Radio OPUS, Polish Radio PR2, Polish TV Trwam.
Ms. Sosnowska’s life philosophy is to share her passion for music with others. She attempts to pass her enthusiasm for music onto young people in giving violin masterclasses in Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Mexico. As an artistic director and performer, she organized concerts within numerous Concert Series in Eastern Poland between 2009-2018 pursuing numerous exciting educational projects.
Jolanta’s other interest & activities include research work: writing articles, participating and speaking at conferences at Universities and Schools of Music. She is the author of the ‘Die Orchester- und Ensembleaufstellung im 18. Jahrhundert unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Position des Geigers – ausgewählte Beispiele‘, a book published by the Akademikerverlag in Saarbrücken. She is also a hobby singer, and a musical saw player.
Raised in a family with musically talented parents, an organ virtuoso and a violinist, Jolanta began playing the violin at the age of six. She is a graduate of the State Karol Szymanowski Primary and Secondary School of Music, the Frederic Chopin Music University in Warsaw in Poland (Master of Arts & Doctor of Musical Arts), the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in the United States (Master of Music in the Violin Performance) and the Vienna Conservatory in Austria (Bachelor of Arts in Baroque Music Performance). Her teachers and mentors included Mirosław Ławrynowicz, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Werner Hink, Ulli Engel and Gunar Letzbor, John Holloway, Eric Höbarth, Wolfgang Marschner and Ruggiero Ricci. She has also graduated from the Warsaw University in the Department of Journalism and Political Studies. She has been a member of The Marian Sawa Society, The Polish Musicians’ Association as well as of the Polish Phonographic Award Academy. Ms. Sosnowska has also actively supported charity organizations in Poland, Slovakia and in the Ukraine by performing fundraising concerts for Children in Need.
in 2022 Jolanta Sosnowska joined the stringed instruments faculty of the Academy of Arts in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia).
Ms. Sosnowska performs on a period instrument by Johann Joseph Ficker, Markneukirchen (Germany), c.1770 and a violin by Samuel Nemessányi, Budapest (Hungary) 1870.