Violinist Vincent Skowronski of Evanston, with a photo of him, pianist Saori Chiba (center) and Pope John Paul II, when he had an audience with the Pontiff in the mid-1990s.
Evanston violinist Vincent P. Skowronski considered going to Rome and joining millions of others last week to pay final respects to Pope John Paul II. Although Skowronski eventually decided to stay home, he has a priceless memory on which to fall back.
Skowronski, a master teacher and internationally recognized concert violinist and recording artist, sought a meeting with the Pontiff in the mid-1990s, initially offering to perform a live concert. Their shared Polish heritage was part of the impetus. A greater factor though, Skowronski said, was that he hoped to connect with Pope John Paul II as a fellow creative artist — a pitch he made in his original letter.
"People forget — because they don't publish it so much — that the Pope was a very fine musician, singer and actor," Skowronski said, reflecting on the events last Thursday during an interview at his private studio, just off Sherman Avenue downtown. "He used to participate in plays in Krakow. People use to always refer to Him as the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, but never mentioned that He was sincerely interested in the creative arts."
The artist's appeal apparently worked because Skowronski received a letter from Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope's right-hand man and personal secretary. The Polish connection didn't hurt there, either, said Skowronski. "With a name like Stanislaw Dziwisz, he's got to be Polish," he said.
Dziwisz informed Skowronski that, regrettably, the Pontiff couldn't participate in a live concert. Nonetheless, he invited the violinist to an audience with the Pope, directing him to make arrangements with Bishop Dino Monduzzi, Il Prefetto, at the Prefettura Della Casa Pontificia, Vaticano —
essentially the person "who basically ran the Vatican," explained Skowronski.
The protocol
Through correspondence, the two agreed on a November date for an audience. Before the appointed day, Skowronski and his pianist, Saori Chiba, took up residence
When time for the meeting arrived, the two musicians were directed to the Pope Paul VI Hall within the Vatican enclave. "This was not your average VFW on Pulaski, " Skowronski said.
They showed their tickets to a man dressed in a morning suit, and he checked the tickets against his list and then told them to follow another man, similarly dressed, who brought them to the first row of the ornate marble hall. "We kept walking until we reached the very first row," Skowronski said. "We were the last ones in, the hall was filled."
The meeting
Once seated, Pope John Paul II entered with his entourage, issued a few papal blessings and thanked the visitors for coming. Then the crowd was dismissed.
"As every one was moving out, I thought that was it," Skowronski said, but then some more men, also dressed in suits, approached the violinist and Chiba, took them by the arm and walked them to the stage where the Pope was waiting. Dziwisz was on stage, as was Monduzzi, and some other people in ceremonial dress, as well as the Pontiff, Skowronski said.
The audience with Pope John Paul II lasted about 10 minutes. Skowronski chatted with Him in both Polish and English, and then handed the Pontiff some copies of his recordings, which the Pope showed great interest in, he said.
The Pope then turned to Chiba, and once He discerned she was Japanese, "He just fluently moved ... from one language to another, without inflection, with no impediment," talking to her in her native tongue, Skowronski said.
Genuine interest
Skowronski, through nearly a half century as a performing artist, has met many dignitaries. He began performing on stage at age 10. As one of the U.S. representatives at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970, he played for such legendary violinists as Leonid Kogan, David Oistrakh, Joseph Szigetti and others.
He remembers vacationing as a youngster in Key Biscayne, Fla., in an area favored by former President Richard Nixon, the late television talk show host Jack Paar and others. Yet, in his meeting with the Pope, "what impressed me most about the man — to use the word sincere is not enough," he said. "He was really interested to hear what I had to say, and He was really interested in what I brought Him as a gift.
"I was really stunned He would spend the time," Skowronski said, "and be that interested in what I had to say."