The Polish-born Danish violinist taught numerous musicians who went on to enjoy illustrious careers
The Polish-born Danish violinist and pedagogue Henryk P. Kowalski died on 11 August 2026 at a Stockholm hospital. He was 78.
A soloist, chamber musician and influential teacher, Kowalski was professor of violin at the Indiana University School of Music and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. During a teaching career spanning more than four decades, he trained musicians who went on to hold orchestral, solo and academic positions throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Henryk Pawel Kowalski was born in Warsaw on 13 December 1947. His father, Leon Kowalski, was a concert violinist who played in the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Warsaw Operetta orchestra. The younger Kowalski studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Tadeusz Wroński, one of the leading figures of the Polish violin school.
While still a student, Kowalski participated in Warsaw’s jazz scene. In 1964 he was a founding member, with Grzegorz Brudko, of the ensemble Asocjacja Hagaw, which became known for its combination of traditional jazz, swing and Eastern European musical influences.
In 1968, amid the Polish government’s anti-Jewish campaign, Kowalski was forced to leave the country before completing his final conservatory recital. He continued his studies at Indiana University with Wroński and Josef Gingold and received an artist diploma in violin in 1974. His chamber music teachers included the violist William Primrose, pianist Menahem Pressler, cellist János Starker and pianist György Sebők.
Kowalski received Denmark’s Jacob Gade Prize in 1969. He subsequently became a Danish citizen and took particular pride in his adopted nationality.
His solo appearances included performances with the Seattle Symphony, St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Symphony, Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, Belgian Radio Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra and Bochum Symphony Orchestra. He also appeared with the Indiana University Philharmonic, Warsaw Academy Orchestra and the festival orchestra of the Tokyo College of Music.
In 1977, Kowalski co-founded Trio European with his brother, the cellist Jakob Kowalski, and the pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. Kowalski remained a member of the ensemble until 1989. The trio performed in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, India, South Korea, Honduras, Guatemala, Spain, the Netherlands Antilles and the United States. Kowalski’s performances were broadcast by Radio France and broadcasting organisations in Belgium, Spain and Denmark, and he recorded for the Belgian label Pavane Records.
Kowalski joined the Indiana University School of Music faculty as a lecturer in 1975. After serving as assistant professor at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne during the 1977–78 academic year, he returned to Bloomington. He was a visiting assistant professor from 1979 to 1986, associate professor from 1986 to 1990 and professor of violin from 1991 until his retirement in 2011, when he became professor emeritus.
He also served as visiting professor of violin at the Tokyo College of Music during the 1990–91 academic year. In 1994 he began teaching at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, initially as a visiting professor, and was appointed professor in 2006.
The international careers of his students reflected the geographical breadth of his teaching. Among them were Andrej Power, a leader of the London Symphony Orchestra and principal concertmaster of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; Andrew Ling, principal violist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; Yun Zhang, associate concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Jenny Eklund, a member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; Linnea Andersson Meilink, a violinist in the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra; John Maple of the Nashville Symphony; and Leslie Frey Anderegg of the Phoenix Symphony. Other former students established careers as soloists, chamber musicians and teachers.
Kowalski gave masterclasses at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Seoul National University, National Taiwan Normal University, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, the Warsaw Conservatory, Iceland Conservatory of Music and several Swedish institutions. His work brought him into contact with successive generations of violinists in Europe, Asia and the United States.
He was a frequent adjudicator at violin competitions. He served several times on the jury of the Tadeusz Wroński International Solo Violin Competition in Warsaw and judged competitions in Spain and the United States, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. In 2014, he chaired the violin division of the Stockholm International Music Competition.
Kowalski was named an honorary member of the Japan Strings Association in 1991. His legacy rests especially with the many musicians whom he trained and the continuation through them of a pedagogical tradition extending from Wroński and Gingold to orchestras and conservatories around the world.
He is survived by his wife, Anna Wiernik; his son, Dr Leo Kowalski; his niece, Lilly Kowalski; and his brother, the cellist Jakob Kowalski, and sister-in-law, Elena. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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