Exhibition in 2022

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This exhibition held at the Georgian House in Edinburgh from 25 June to 23 October 2022 explored the remarkable story of Felix Yaniewicz (1762-1848), the celebrated Polish-Lithuanian violin virtuoso who settled in Scotland and founded the first Edinburgh music festival in 1815.  More than 10,000 visitors enjoyed a unique opportunity to see historic musical instruments, portraits, letters, autographs, silver and gold personal possessions, many of them heirlooms on loan from members of his surviving family, and almost none of which had been seen in public before.​
​Watch the exhibition virtual tour
Click below to see a short film showcasing the exhibits and telling Yaniewicz's story
(to watch it fullscreen, click in the bottom right hand corner of the video)
​Or you can view some of the exhibits in this slideshow:

  • The Yaniewicz & Green square piano c.1810, purchased for this project by The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz, is on display in the Drawing Room
  • The Yaniewicz & Co Apollo lyre guitar, dating from the same period, on special loan from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter
  • Yaniewicz’s inlaid double violin case, which once contained his Stradivarius and Amati violins, on loan from the museum of historical instruments at St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh, and displayed in public for the first time 
     Family memorabilia on loan from Yaniewicz's descendants including
  • The portrait of Yaniewicz aged 37 by De L0ngastre
  • Portraits of his wife, Eliza Breeze
  • Yaniewicz's gold snuff box
  • Silver cutlery and his seal on a gold fob bearing his crest and motto ‘Pro Lithuania’ 
  •  An Account of the First Edinburgh Musical Festival (first edition), published in 1816 and inscribed ‘To Mrs Yaniewicz as a small mark of the author’s esteem and friendship’
  • Letters, and autographs from Yaniewicz's correspondents Nicolo Paganini and Angelica Catalani 

The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz are grateful to their exhibition partners The Adam Mickiewicz Institute and National Trust for Scotland, and to exhibition managers Matassa Toffolo.

Exhibition events programme
A programme of events was held alongside the exhibition, animating Yaniewicz's story in talks, lecture recitals and musical performance:
  • Felix Yaniewicz: Life and Legend     
  • The Story of the First Edinburgh Music Festival
  • Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh ​
  • Every Instrument tells a Story
  • 'Pro Lithuania': Patriotism in Exile
  • Mr Yaniewicz and Mme Catalani
Plus a special event during our festival weekend, on 21 August at Ghillie Dhu:
  • Armando Iannucci in conversation, on music, migration and Scotland