We where having our regular symphony rehearsal at Davies Symphony Hall, and the soloist for that week’s series of concerts was the noted violinist Henryk Szeryng. After rehearing the opening composition for the concert, we began to reorganize the seating for the soloist who was to now rehearse with us.

Usually it is a reduced orchestra with fewer members, and the stage was finally reset for this smaller orchestra as required by the instrumental accompaniment of the violin concerto.

Right after this Henryk Szeryng joined us on the stage, and was welcomed with a great deal of applause by our orchestra members. As he came closer to the podium he asked all of us to move our music stands up close to the podium, and to have the Concert master and myself as the principal Second violinist bring our stands extremely close to him.

This was quite different for us, as he wanted us to be surrounding him so closely. This was quite concerning for myself especially, as I did not want him to back up into my music stand which was directly behind him. As one can imagine, he performed so magnificently and never once came in contact with the music stand.

End of rehearsal - then the fun began!

After we completed our rehearsal of the violin concerto, he remained on stage while I was making some bowing correction in my part that would later be placed in the parts of each member of the section. It seemed that we were the only two people on the stage during the orchestral break.

Out of nowhere he turned around and started to perform a movement of the Bach Solo Partita in D minor, as if to give me a private concert. I simply sat back in my chair with my legs crossed, enjoying every moment of his magnificent playing. When done, he smiled and simply left the stage.

Later that week I had the pleasure of performing chamber music with him and my colleagues of “Trio Concertante”, Paul Hersh (piano and viola) and Laszlo Varga (cello) who was a good friend of Henryk Szeryng.

I am so happy to have been part of this wonderful experience, and will always treasure those moments listening to the beautiful sounds of his extraordinary mastery of the violin.

About Henryk Szeryng:

Henryk Szeryng was born in 1918 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland, the same Warsaw suburb in which Chopin was born. He began his study of the violin at the age of seven, soon moving from Poland to Berlin to study with violinist Carl Flesch. Szeryng made his first concert tour of Warsaw, Bucharest, Vienna and Paris in 1933 at the age of 15 and received the Paris Conservatory “Premier prix” for violin in 1937.

Szeryng’s career was interrupted by World War II. During the war he not only gave more than 300 concerts for Allied troops in Europe, Africa and the Americas, but also went to Latin America to find homes for 4,000 Polish war refugees.

Szeryng’s international concert career was revived in 1954, when Artur Rubinstein heard Szeryng play in Mexico. In the years that followed, Szeryng performed in 65 countries on five continents.

Szeryng’s accomplishments went far beyond those of a great violinist. His ability to speak and write in eight languages was paralleled by his uncanny ability to discern every part in the orchestra as well as his own.

- from a Library of Congress Information Bulletin