For hours a day, David Radzynski practices his violin in the classrooms beneath the sanctuary of the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel. You can hear him in the morning playing complex pieces somewhere in the maze of classrooms, the sound resonating off the narrow walls.

“He’s always practicing downstairs, he practices hard,” says Ingrid Stolzel, director and assistant professor of Music for the International Center for Music at Park University.

“You can always find him there.”

Radzynski was recently named concertmaster for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In this role, he will begin traveling the world with the orchestra later this year.

Born in New Haven, Conn., and a native of Columbus, Ohio, Radzynski started playing violin at age 6, along with piano. His parents were also musicians – his father a composer and his mother a piano teacher.

It didn’t take long for them to see that their son had a love for music and a gift for violin, according to Radzynski.

“My dad would drive me every week to lessons in Chicago, sometimes flying me out there,” Radzynski says, his words echoing in the sanctuary as he stares at the black grand piano on the stage. “My Dad traveled with me. They dedicated their whole lives to my career.”

Radzynski, 28, won first prize at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Young Musicians competition in 2001 and the American String Teachers Association for his solo performance in the senior division among other accolades.

Despite his many wins in competitions around the world, Radzynski felt stuck on his arrival at Park. He says something was missing.

Radzynski thinks this was  due to his practicing techniques. He had yet to perfect the way he trained and because of that didn’t feel he was at the level he needed to be at, he says.

He says music is just like a sport, it requires hours and hours of practicing. If you practice the wrong way and without proper guidance, it’s hard to get anywhere substantial.

This is true even for Radzynski, who before coming to Park was a graduate from both Indiana University and Yale School of Music.

Ben Sayevich, his instructor and musical coach at Park University, gave him the guidance he needed to reach that next level.

“Sayevich said ‘you don’t need anyone to teach you how to play the violin. What you need is a coach. We are working as a team’,” says Radzynski.

That teamwork and tutelage set him free. Before Park, Radzynskisays he didn’t know how to “work intelligently”.

“I had a problem. I was stuck and Sayevich got me out of that,” he says. “He brought me up that extra level that made the difference. I think that that one step up gave me the confidence to really succeed in something.”

Radzynski says he is thankful to the people in his life who pushed him forward along each milestone in his musical career.

Moving forward, Radzynski says he is excited and content where he is at this point in his life. This new role as concertmaster for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra fits him perfectly.

“I mean, this is a dream job,” he says. “I’m Jewish, I’m fluent in Hebrew and I have family in Israel. It’s like my second home. If you asked me where I’ll be in ten years, I have no idea. I’m not even thinking about the future. I’m really happy right now.”

You can see Radzynski Friday, Feb. 13, for a recital in the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

He will perform with pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich. This is a free event and is open to the public, reservations are required.