He began playing the violin at age nine but later switched to the viola, completing his studies at the State Higher School of Music in the western city of Poznań.
He pursued postgraduate training with Tadeusz Wroński in Warsaw and Pierre Pasquier in Paris.
Kamasa made his solo debut in 1954, performing Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Andrzej Panufnik.
With more than 30 viola concertos in his repertoire, he went on to build an extensive international career, appearing at festivals in Salzburg, Berlin, Moscow, Prague, Zurich and Versailles. He also performed in Baden-Baden, La Chaise-Dieu, Alicante, Lourdes and Mexico.
A pioneer of contemporary music, he premiered numerous works by Polish composers, including Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Roman Palester and Krzysztof Penderecki.
As a chamber musician, he performed with the Warsaw Quartet for more than two decades, as well as with the Polish Radio and Television Quartet.
He collaborated with musicians including Jean-Pierre Rampal, Marina Yashvili and Marielle Nordmann. He also performed alongside Maureen Forrester, Sherban Lupu and Ivan Monighetti.
Kamasa received numerous honours, including the Officer’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order, the Gold Cross of Merit, and the Gold Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.
He served as a chairman and jury member at various competitions, including those in Munich, Budapest, Bordeaux and Essen.
As an educator, he spent several decades as a professor at Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, training generations of distinguished violists. In 2025, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the institution.
Violist Kinga Wojdalska, Kamasa’s final student at Warsaw’s Zenon Brzewski Music High School, described him as “not only an extraordinary artist and musician, but also a deeply caring teacher.”
She said: “The last time I played for him was in October 2025. I brought Grażyna Bacewicz’s Sonata No. 2 for Solo Viola and Penderecki’s Viola Concerto. He remembered these works as if he had practiced them the day before. He helped me discover new colours in the music and shared memories of his meetings and collaborations with both composers, which made the experience unforgettable."
(mk/gs)
Source: The Strad