Szeryng started piano and harmony lessons with his mother when he was 5, and at age 7 turned to the violin, receiving instruction from Maurice Frenkel.

He made his solo debut on 6 January 1933 playing the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Romanian conductor George Georgescu.

When World War II broke out, Władysław Sikorski, the premier of the Polish government in exile, asked Szeryng, who was fluent in seven languages, to serve as his liaison officer and interpreter.

When he accompanied Sikorski on a mission to Mexico in 1941 seeking a home for 4,000 Polish refugees, the positive reception moved Szeryng so deeply that he decided to become a Mexican naturalized citizen, and did so in 1946.

[1] He was buried at Cimetière de Monaco, the headstone bearing the concluding bars of the Ciaconna from Bach's Partita No.2 for solo violin.

In December 1972 he donated the "Hercules" to the City of Jerusalem to honor the 25th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, with the stipulation that it be loaned out for the use of outstanding young Israeli violinists.

He presented the Hercules Stradivarius (formerly belonging to Ysaye) to the City of Jerusalem, then Mayor was Teddy Kollek, to be played on by the concertmaster of The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.