She gave world premiere performances of numerous contemporary works, including music by Tadeusz Baird and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Born in Warsaw on 11 January 1929,[1] Wanda Wiłkomirska first learned the violin from her father Alfred Wiłkomirski,[2] and studied with Irena Dubiska at the Academy of Music in Łódź,[3] graduating in 1947.

[3] She also studied in Warsaw under Tadeusz Wroński [pl], who helped her prepare for the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań in December 1952, where she played Karol Szymanowski's Concerto No.

[4] The American impresario Sol Hurok (who managed such violinists as Isaac Stern and David Oistrakh) introduced her to enthusiastic audiences in the U.S. and Canada.

[3] In 1976 she helped inaugurate the Barbican Hall in London[4] with a performance of Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, scheduled to be conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, but in the end by Erich Leinsdorf.

[2] Wiłkomirska was often a jury member at violin competitions, such as those held in Moscow, Tokyo, London, Munich, Vienna, Graz, Hanover, Gorizia, and in Poland, in Poznań, Kraków, Łódź and Lublin.

She also played with Krystian Zimerman, Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Natalia Sheludiakova, Martha Argerich, Kim Kashkashian and Mischa Maisky.

Her recordings include the works of Accolay, Bacewicz, Bach, Baird, Bargielski, Bartok, Beethoven, Augustyn Bloch, Brahms, Bujarski, Dancla, Franck, Handel, Karlowicz, Khachaturian, Kreisler, Martini, Mussorgsky, Pallasz, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Tchaikovsky, Viotti and Wieniawski.

[8][10] Rakowski later became Prime Minister of Poland (1988–89) and First Secretary of the PZPR and established a reputation as a liberalizing reformist, influenced by Wiłkomirska and dissidents he met through her.

[16] Her mother, Dorota Wiłkomirska (née Dvoira Temkin, 1901–1986), was a pianist and music teacher, who also published several note collections for children.