WARSAW, Poland — Polish violin virtuoso Wanda Wilkomirska, a one-time darling of the country’s communist authorities who became a dissident, has died at 89.
She died Tuesday, according to Anna Solnicka-Heller, director of a residence for retired Polish artists where Ms. Wilkomirska lived.
The daughter of violinist Alfred Wilkomirski, she played with two half-brothers as the Wilkomirski Trio before becoming a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ms. Wilkomirska performed with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta. Though her repertory was wide, she specialized in Poland’s contemporary music.
She was married to a communist party official, journalist Mieczyslaw Rakowski, but became a supporter of dissident movements during the 1970s and emigrated secretly after martial law was imposed in 1981.
Ms. Wilkomirska had lived in Germany and Australia, where she taught violin.
MORE OBITUARIES IN THE NEWS:
• Chicago chef Judson Allen, ‘architect of flavor’ featured on TV’s Food Network, dead at 36
• Rabbi Aaron Panken, Reform Judaism seminary president, dies in plane crash at 53
• Wilson Frost, trailblazing Chicago alderman who clashed with Mayor Richard J. Daley, dead at 92
• ‘Doc’ Pellegrino, founder of Chicago’s legendary Kingston Mines blues club, dead at 92
• Lula Bronson, Chicago union organizer with SEIU who ‘made you listen,’ has died at 81
