Stanienda was a graduate of the
Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with . Since 1975, Jan Stanienda had been a member of the Polish Chamber Orchestra under
Jerzy Maksymiuk, and in 1977 he became its concertmaster and soloist. In 1976 he received a prize at the
Niccolo Paganini International Violin Competition in
Genoa. He performed with many distinguished musicians, such as
Yehudi Menuhin,
Maurice André,
Michala Petri,
Wanda Wiłkomirska, Krzysztof Jakowicz,
János Starker,
Barbara Hendricks, Maurice Bourge, Lidia Grzanka-Urbaniak,
Guy Touvron, Andrei Gridchuk,
Grzegorz Nowak, Tadeusz Wojciechowski and Krzysztof Jabłoński. He was the concertmaster of
Sinfonia Varsovia in 1986–1990. He was the artistic director of the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra in 1992–1995 and the artistic director of the
Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra since 1996. He was the creator and artistic director of the Wrocław Chamber Music Festival
Arsenal Nights and the laureate of the Wrocław Music Award (2006). He was also the artistic director of the European Musical Workshops and the Summer Orchestral Workshops in
Kołobrzeg. He performed both as soloist and conductor in every European country and on every continent. He gave concerts at
Carnegie Hall in New York City,
Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam
Concertgebouw,
Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid,
Barbican Centre and
Royal Albert Hall in London (
BBC Proms),
Santa Cecilia in Rome and many others. He died at age 68. ==References==