Singapore International Music Competition

Natan Dondalski (Poland)

Lecturer,
G. Bacewicz in Koszalin, Academy of Art in Szczecin

Concertmaster,
Koszalin Philharmonic & Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic

A doctorate of musical arts, Natan Dondalski was born in 1980 in Olsztyn, Poland. He began learning to play the violin at the age of 7 under the tutelage of his father Jan Dondalski before continuing at the State Music School. F. Chopin in Olsztyn in the violin class of Antoni Hoffman and thereafter with prof. Mirosław Ławrynowicz at the State Secondary Music School Zenon Brzewski in Warsaw.

In 2004 he graduated with honors from the Academy of Music F. Chopin under the supervision of prof. Mirosław Ławrynowicz, as one of his last graduates. He continued to perfect his skills with such outstanding violinists as: Grigory Zyhslin in Würzburg and Rosa Fain in Düsseldorf.

Dondalski is a laureate of many prestigious violin competitions held in Gdańsk, Prague, Waraw, and International Louis Spohr Violin Competitions in Weimar and Freiburg. He participated in master violin classes with Wanda Wiłkomirska, Marina Jaszwili, Wolfgang Marschner and Pierre Amoyal and was the winner of the Golden Ten Award of “Gazeta Olsztyńska”, Advantages of Warmia and Mazury and the Creative Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for outstanding achievements in the field of culture in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, he received the award of the Director of the Artistic Editing Center for his special contribution to the development of artistic education in Poland. In 2019, he received the award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for outstanding achievements in didactic, educational and artistic work. Among his many alumni are winners of national and international competitions. According to critics and the press, Natan Dondalski has been hailed as one of the representatives of the best Polish violinists of his generation.

He has since performed with such symphony orchestras as: Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, Vratislavia Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Sinfonietta, National Polish Radio Orchestra in Katowice, Orchestra Nationala a Republicii Moldova, Weimar State Symphony Orchestra, Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Rundfunkorchesters Kaiserslautern, Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and has played under the baton of conductors such as Andrzej Straszyński, Tomasz Bugaj, Simca Heled, Makoto Suehiro, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Jerzy Swoboda, Wolfgang Marschner, Peter Falk, Heribert Beissel, Ovidiu Balan, Marek Pijarowski, Jerzy Salwarowski, Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Paweł Przytocki, Leos Svarovski, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Antoni Wit.

An active soloist, he has taken part in various national and international festivals, including: in Tarnów, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków, Huberman in Częstochowa, Helsinki, Kuhmo, Stockholm, Upsala, in Kalmar, Paris, Chisinau, Prague, Berlin, Sapporo and Tokyo. He has also made numerous recordings for Polish, Czech, Moldavian, German, French and Finnish Radio and Television and was the first to perform forgotten violin concertos in Poland J. Hubay, Ch. Sinding, L. Spohr (for two violins) and G. Faure.
He has performed in many prestigious concert halls such as: Cristal Saal in Obihiro, National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Concert Studio for them. Witold Lutosławski in Warsaw, National Philharmonic in Sofia, Helsinki Cathedral, Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg, Kölner Philharmonik, Musikhalle in Hamburg, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Konserthuset in Oslo, Beethovenhalle in Bonn and Schauspielhaus in Berlin.

Since 2004, he has undertaken the position as concertmaster of the Koszalin Philharmonic and the Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic in Olsztyn. He is also a lecturer at the Academy of Art in Szczecin. In 2017, he also took on the role of lecturer at the International Music Courses Zenon Brzewski in Łańcut.