Ilona Cudek was born in 1967 in Gliwice, Poland. At the age of 13, after moving to Germany, she became a junior student at the Munich Music Academy, from which she graduated with honors in 1989. After that, a scholarship from the Bavarian Culture Ministry enabled her to continue her studies in Paris. Ilona Cudek took a number of master courses from Sergiu Celibidache, Sir Colin Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Max Rostal, the Koeckert Quartet and the Amadeus Quartet. With the Cudek Quartet of Munich she won several string quartet awards and concertized at home and abroad. Since 1993, Ilona Cudek has been the associate principal second violinist of the Munich Philharmonic.
