Daniel Kobialka (San Francisco, CA)

Daniel Kobialka, world-renowned violinist & composer, holds a unique place in the world of music. Daniel's compositions and interpretations embrace both the classic and the avant-garde in a search to create sounds that enliven and heal.

From his beginnings as a child prodigy, Kobialka went on in the following decades to challenge the music industry's perceptions that the violin is not a marketable instrument. Strong in his belief that his beloved violin could be the most eloquent and evocative of instruments, Kobialka founded his own record label in order to freely pursue his own interpretations of the classics, as well as his profound interest in more avant-garde music. LiSem Enterprises Inc. has sold millions of CDs since its inception in 1981.

Kobialka?s music has formed the core of a series of studies linking sound with CAM, complementary and alternative medicine for health and healing. At the center of Kobialka?s focus is the rejuvenative power of music. He has led didactic and interactive workshops and seminars, traveled the world bringing his violin virtuosity to hospitals from Beijing, China to Plainville, Ohio, and recorded music for meditation and guidance with alternative healing pioneers including Dr. Joan Borysenko and Dr. Bernie Siegel.

The Early Years

An accomplished and creative performer at an early age, Kobialka?s interest in contemporary music was sparked while he was a boy. His father played violin with the Stradivarius String Quartet, and the household was filled with music from Beethoven to Bartok and Shoenberg.

Kobialka was the founding concertmaster and soloist at the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, where he played alongside John Adams, one of his high school friends who is now considered one of the foremost contemporary composers of our time.

At age 15 Daniel made his concert debut at Carnegie Hall, and in the same year appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Four years later, he made his critically acclaimed recital debut at Carnegie Hall.

His decades of chamber music activities include performances with his colleagues in the San Francisco Symphony, as well as being the violinist with the famed ensemble ?Trio Concertante? with Laszlo Varga, cello, and Paul Hersh, piano and viola, who performed and recorded many classical compositions as well as music written expressly for the ensemble.

A graduate of the Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford, Kobialka received his Masters degree and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

His contributions to education over the past four decades have given him professorships at Catholic University of America, California State Universities of San Francisco and Hayward, The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and presently at Mills College and The University of California at Berkeley.

Kobialka's Concept of Spacial Music

Kobialka?s concept of ?spacial music? began to take shape, mainly through the influence of his long time friend and mentor, composer Henry Brant. ?My focus is to further develop music that builds on the concepts of the ancients; Pythagoras most influences my thinking. It is time to incorporate non-Western tonalities, such as the musical approaches of Japan and Java, into our sounds. I want to make spacial music that utilizes the unique characteristics of the venue to best advantage. I want to create music that surrounds and envelopes, that intensely and accurately elicits an enlivening response in the listener. It is my greatest desire that when you hear my music, you are soothed, you feel joyfully alive.?

The development of the Zeta Polyphonic violin was crucial to Kobialka's sound concepts - a MIDI synthony instrument that can be played and heard in a very large space. The world premier of Kobialka?s ?Concerto for the Zeta-Polyphonic Electronic Violin?, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, was performed March 1991.

Kobialka has been widely sought after internationally as a performer and lecturer, as well as composer. He has performed at major events in Europe, Taiwan and Japan where his recordings are best sellers. The Japanese government awarded him a Medium Term Grant to study traditional and contemporary music.

Kobialka was invited to perform at the International Holistic Health Association?s second ?Global Holistic Health Summit? in Bangalore, India, in November of 2002. The theme of the conference was Holistic & Integrated Medicine for the 21st Century.

?If you are seeking healing, inspiration or spiritual fulfillment, you will discover in Kobialka the transformative power of music.? - Larry Dossey, M.D.

?I found years ago that music creates a healing environment? I find Kobialka?s to be the best available.? - Dr. Bernie Siegel

?The gentle, sweet melodies pulsing from your music relaxes my heart and fills my mind with happiness.? - Dr. Aiyoshi Kawahata

?A sensitive and intelligent performer with a natural gift for his instrument.? - Aaron Copland

?Kobialka is a musician of unusual strength and devotion.? - Leonard Bernstein

?With de Waart conducting [Charles Wuorinine?s ?Rhapsody?] , Kobialka played the kind of heart-and-soul, totally secure performance composers dream about but all too rarely get to hear.? - Musical America

Daniel Kobialka?brings to life music of the past, present and future, and communicates true joy.? - Michael Tilsen Thomas

Serving as Principal 2nd Violinist with the San Francisco Symphony for over two decades, Kobialka also occupied the Dinner and Swig Families Chair. In addition to his many performances worldwide, he is the founding concertmaster and soloist with San Francisco?s Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra under George Cleve, with whom he has recorded ?Mozart?s Violin Concerto No 1?.

Kobialka Today

Kobialka has just signed a major recording contract with the Healing Label in Tokyo, Japan. This contract includes new compositions and arrangements, collaborations with the famous Japanese composer Marth, and a concert tour in Japan this year.