Daniel Stabrawa
violin
Daniel Stabrawa was concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker for 35 years. In the era of four chief conductors – Karajan, Abbado, Rattle and Petrenko – he gave around 1500 concerts with the orchestra in Berlin alone. He also appeared time and again as a soloist with the orchestra, including in violin concertos by Prokofiev, Mozart, Beethoven, Szymanowski and Jenő Hubay. What will he miss most when he retires? “Always playing at the highest level, with an orchestra that is unique.”
Daniel Stabrawa was born in Kraków in 1955. He studied at the conservatory in his home town under Zbigniew Szlezer, was a prize-winner in several international competitions and was appointed concertmaster of the Krakow Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979. In 1983, he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he took over from Michel Schwalbé as first concertmaster three years later. Daniel Stabrawa has also appeared several times with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a concerto soloist, and in 2020 he performed not only as solo violinist but also as conductor in Andrzej Panufnik’s Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra. In 1985, Daniel Stabrawa founded the Philharmonia Quartet with three Philharmonic colleagues, of which he was the first violin for many years. The violinist also performed chamber music with Yefim Bronfman, Murray Perahia, Emmanuel Ax, Rafał Blechacz and Nigel Kennedy, among others – as well as with his wife, the pianist Elżbieta Stepien-Stabrawa, with whom he has given concerts since his early youth. From 1986 to 2000, Stabrawa taught at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a conductor, he led the Capella Bydgostiensis in Bydgoszcz for nine years.
