Lech Antonio Uszynski

Main subject teacher viola (Classical Department)

With his characteristic warm sound and sensitive interpretation, Lech Antonio Uszynski has become a sought-after Violist on international stages. As a soloist and chamber musician he has played in concert halls that include the Philharmonie Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. He is also a regular guest at international festivals where he has performed with Artists such as Vilde Frang, Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff & Antoine Tamestit. In June 2022 he had his critically acclaimed Solo Debut at the NFM in Wrocław under the direction of Krzysztof Urbański. He has been the Stradivari Quartet’s viola player since 2010 and enjoyed great acclaim with this ensemble on international tours throughout Europe, Asia and America. Additionally, to his performance as chamber musician and soloist, he has been invited in the past years as guest principal Viola by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and numerous other Ensembles. In 2022 he held an “ad interim” position as co-principal Viola at the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

2019 his solo album “Progetto Gibson” was released by RCA Red Seal (Sony Classical). The pieces on this recording are related to Antonio Stradivari's famous "Gibson" Viola, 1734, which Uszynski played from 2010-2017. Previous recordings include Steve Reich's string quartets "Different Trains" & "Triple quartet" for Warner Classics and chamber music versions of Mahler 1st and 4th Symphonies. In 2018 his quartet released two CDs (Works by Schumann & Schubert) for RCA Red Seal (Sony). In 2021 he received much critical acclaim for his live-recording of Bachs Toccata & Fugue in a version for Viola Solo which was published on Youtube.

He was born in 1986 into a family of Polish musicians in Padova in Italy but moved to Switzerland the following year. It was there that he grew up, studying with Ana Chumachenco, Zakhar Bron and Michel Rouilly at Zurich’s University of the Arts. He also received mentoring and encouragement as a viola player from Rudolf Barshai. In addition to his wide stylistic range as a performer, he is also passionate about teaching and has been giving regularly Masterclasses over the past years.

Lech Antonio Uszynski currently performs on a rare Viola by the Maker Hendrick Willems built in 1690. Lech Antonio Uszynski is an Thomastik-Infeld Exclusive Artist and is playing on Spirocore and PI Strings.