Henryk Szeryng was born on September 22, 1918. In his youth, his mother taught him to play the piano, but he later decided to exchange this instrument for the violin.

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He was confronted with the beginning of the Second World War while in Paris. However, he did not stop his concert activity. After joining the Polish army in France in 1940, he gave concerts for the Allied forces in military camps and field hospitals. As a liaison officer and translator since he was fluent in seven languages, he served Władysław Sikorski on his mission to Mexico, when the general asked officials there to accept a few thousand Polish refugees. In 1946, Szeryng obtained Mexican citizenship and began a career in teaching, becoming the principal violin teacher in the music department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

A worldwide success

He returned to the stage in 1954 to give concerts in New York, which proved to be a huge success. From then on he began to play with the most famous orchestras and conductors in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, performing many times in Poland. His repertoire includes more than 40 concerts and dozens of sonatas from different periods. He became famous for his interpretations of great artists like Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. The artist has been a very active propagator of contemporary music, presenting a new piece for violin and orchestra every year.

Henryk Szeryng died on 3 March 1988 in Kassel.