Daniel Kobialka


Daniel Kobialka is an American violinist who played with the Boston Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony orchestras.

Career

Kobialka played violin on several tracks on the 1975 rock album Ambrosia, including the solo on the hit "Holdin' on to Yesterday".
Kobialka played as the principal second violinist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa from September 1975 to September 2008. He was also the founding concertmaster and soloist with San Francisco’s Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra with George Cleve.
His own “Concerto for the Zeta-Polyphonic Electronic Violin” premiered in March 1991. With the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, he gave both the American premiere of Toru Takemitsu’s “Far Calls, Coming Far,” and the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s "Rhapsody." With the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Shaw he premiered Ben Weber’s Violin Concerto No. 1, dedicated to him. He also served as Concertmaster for the premier of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, which opened in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Kobialka was on the faculty of the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas, and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
He is a recipient of the Medium Term Grant to study traditional and contemporary music by the Japanese government.
Kobialka also serves on Advisory Boards for Beam Foundation, Institute of Holistic Medicine, and Pacific Guqin Association.

Commissioned works

Kobialka was commissioned to compose a film score for the "Split Horn" documentary Life of a Hmong Shaman in America, and wrote 10 orchestral and solo violin compositions for various instrumental combinations. His recorded solo artist albums include one for the Advance Recordings, and one for the Desto record label of original works dedicated to him by Lou Harrison, Henry Brant, and Glen Glassow, Donald Martino, and Arnold Franchetti.
Over his career he commissioned over 30 works from composers like Charles Wuorinen, William Bolcom, Wayne Peterson, George Rochberg, Vivian Fine, Arthur Custer, Meyer Kupferman, Marta Ptaszynska, Theodore Antoniou, Fred Fox, and Benjamin Lees.

Company

Kobialka founded LiSem Enterprises Inc., in 1985, and created Wonder of Sound in 2009. His company focusses on new-age and classical instrumental music.
Formerly based in San Francisco, California, LiSem Enterprises Inc. is now headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, and has globally expanded. The LiSem label has produced a variety of music: relaxation, yoga, massage, meditation, therapy, energy and eclectic music.

Discography