We encourage you to follow us on other channels:
Instagram /rafalbrzoska_foundation
LinkedIn /Rafal-Brzoska-Foundation
What Rafał Brzoska said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
In this Fireside Chat, Rafał Brzoska interviews Wojtek Niedziółka, a Scholar of the Rafał Brzoska Foundation since 2025, studying at the Music Academy Basel and the Academy of Music in Łódź. Brzoska highlights Niedziółka's accolades, including the highest rank among Polish participants at the 16th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition and the 2023 Coryphaeus of Polish Music title. Niedziółka discusses his musical origins, the violin's technical difficulty, and the balance between solo and ensemble performance. He reveals the historic world premiere of Grzegorz Fitelberg's D minor Violin Concerto, rediscovered after 120 years in the University Library in Warsaw; Fitelberg never finished it, with the first two movements fully orchestrated. The project was led by the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, which invited him to collaborate. He also notes that ensembles can sometimes perform without rehearsal but regular rehearsals are essential for long-term unity.
Key takeaways
Niedziółka premiered Fitelberg's D minor Violin Concerto, rediscovered after 120 years in a Warsaw library, with movements orchestrated by Fitelberg.
Niedziółka started violin at age seven, inspired by Chopin CDs his parents played at bedtime.
The Fitelberg project was initiated by the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, which invited Niedziółka to collaborate.
Numbers and commitments
Figure
What it refers to
Type
At
120 years
Time Fitelberg's concerto was undiscovered before premiere
Hello everyone. Today, we have another episode of Fireside Chat with another Scholar of my foundation, Rafał Brzoska Foundation. Today, our guest is Wojtek. Hi, Wojtek. Wojtek Niedziółka.
A Scholar since 2025, which means you are part of our fourth edition. Now, let me introduce you. You study at the Music Academy Basel in Professor Rainer Schmidt's class, and at the same time at the Academy of Music in Łódź. Simultaneously?
There you go. Amazing. He received the award for the highest-ranked Polish participant at the 16th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, as well as the 2023 Coryphaeus of Polish Music title. The category was Discovery of the Year.
That's right. He has performed as a soloist in the United States, Japan and Europe, working with renowned ensembles, including the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Iuventus and the Polish Radio Orchestra. In 2024, he released the album Polish Romantic Works, nominated for a 2025 Fryderyk Award, featuring a recording of Henryk Wieniawski's First Violin Concerto. In 2025, he gave the historic world premiere of Grzegorz Fitelberg's D minor Violin Concerto, rediscovered after 120 years. Did I forget anything?
It actually came about in quite an unusual way. There were quite a few coincidences involved. You could say there was also quite a lot of luck, because my parents had one classical music collection at home, and that collection included a CD of Frédéric Chopin's music. When I was three or four, I found those CDs somewhere and asked my mother to play Chopin for me at bedtime. I would fall asleep to that music.
I became so fascinated by that music that later, in kindergarten, I would share my knowledge about Chopin's early years. I also sang a lot. Going to music school became my dream, so, partly out of curiosity, my parents took me to the entrance exams when I was seven, which was exactly when I was starting...
