Cecylia Arzewski

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

Early life and education Cecylia Arzewski was born to Polish-Jewish parents in Kraków, 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 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. In 1960 when the family moved to the US, she studied with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1967 Arzewski moved to Boston, MA and studied at the New England Conservatory with Joseph Silverstein, who became her mentor. She studied with Joseph Silverstein until 1975. She also coached with Josef Gingold, Paul Makanowitzky and Jascha Heifetz.

Career In 1969, Arzewski played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as a principal 2nd violinist. 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. 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. 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 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

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