Artist description The national orchestra of Poland, established in 1901.Today both the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir have world-wide popularity and appreciation. The orchestra has made over 100 tours on five continents. It has performed in all major concert halls applauded by audiences and critics for its charismatic music making. It has taken part in many international festivals – in Vienna, Prague, Bergen, Lucerne, Berlin, Montreux, Moscow, Brussels, Florence, Bordeaux and Athens, to mention just a few. The Orchestra participates regularly in the famous International Chopin Piano Competition and Warsaw Autumn Festival. It also makes recordings for the Polish Radio and Television, Polish and international record companies as well as participates in film music recordings.Each season the Philharmonic presents over 80 symphony concerts, more than 50 chamber concerts and a special series of concerts for children, featuring the Orchestra as well as guest symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles both Polish and foreign. The Philharmonic also organizes music programs throughout the country especially for schools and smaller cultural centres to promote classical music and educate the young generation.The Warsaw Philharmonic has hosted many famous artists from all over the world. Apart from all the outstanding Polish conductors, many renowned foreign conductors have stood on the podium, among them: Hermann Abendroth, Gary Bertini, Herbert Blomstedt, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Charles Dutoit, Philippe Entremont, Aram Khachaturian, Yehudi Menuhin, Kurt Masur, Helmuth Rilling, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky. Many brilliant soloists have appeared here including Martha Argerich, Kathleen Battle, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Teresa Berganza, Nigel Kennedy, Midori, Anne-Sophie Mutter, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Arthur Rubinstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Henryk Szeryng, Pinchas Zukerman and many others.

Music Style Baroque to Contemporary

Similar Artists Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra

Artist History The first musical performance of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra took place on November 5, 1901 in the newly opened Philharmonic Hall. The artistic director and principal conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra Emil Młynarski conducted this inaugural concert. The soloist was the world-renowned pianist, composer and future statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The program of this historic concert included Paderewski’s Piano Concerto in A minor and works of other Polish composers: Chopin, Moniuszko, Noskowski, Stojowski and Żeleński.The early years of the Orchestra were characterized by the gradual achievement of a high level of professionalism and numerous performances by outstanding soloists and conductors from all over the world. Before the World War I and in the inter-war period the Warsaw Philharmonic was the main centre of musical activity in Poland and also one of the leading centres of music in Europe. Almost all the outstanding conductors and soloists of the day appeared with the orchestra, including Grieg, Honegger, Klemperer, Prokofiev, Rakhmaninov, Ravel, Rodzinski, R. Strauss, Stravinsky, Arrau, Horowitz, Kempff, Rubinstein, Huberman and Sarasate.The first three International Chopin Piano Competitions (1927, 1932, 1937), in which the Orchestra participated were held in the Hall, as well as the first International Wieniawski Violin Competition (1935) and the first Public Festival of Polish Arts (1937). Those events showed Warsaw’s active participation in European musical life.After 38 years of prosperity, the outbreak of the World War II brought a temporary halt to the activities of the Philharmonic. The Hall was bombed and partially burnt in the first days of September 1939 and completely destroyed by the end of the war. The orchestra lost 39 of its 71 players.In the first years after the war, Straszyński and Panufnik conducted the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. In January 1950 Witold Rowicki was appointed director and principal conductor. He took it upon himself to organize a new ensemble. Despite the lack of its own hall and difficult working conditions, the Orchestra made rapid progress. Performances were organized in different places, such as sports halls and theatres. The orchestra improved systematically during the first years under Rowicki and became a leading Polish ensemble. Their first concert abroad took place at the 1951 International Youth Festival in Berlin and was followed up by a tour of Romania in 1952. In October 1952, a “Choir Studio” under the auspices of the Philharmonic was established. This studio was the origin of the mixed choir, which appeared for the first time in a symphony concert with the Orchestra in May 1953. Since then the Choir has received the name of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir with a status of a fully professional ensemble. Also at that time the Warsaw Philharmonic started to promote its own chamber music series, which it still does today.On February 21, 1955 the rebuilt Philharmonic Hall in Jasna Street was re-opened, with a large hall of over 1000 seats and a 433 seat hall for chamber music. On that day the Warsaw Philharmonic received the status of the National Philharmonic of Poland. This represented the status which the Philharmonic had achieved in Poland as the leading institution of its kind in the country. It also provided new opportunities and challenges for the future.From 1955 until 1958 Bohdan Wodiczko, an outstanding musician and enthusiast of modern music conducted the Orchestra. Arnold Rezler and Stanisław Skrowaczewski also worked with the Orchestra, and Roman Kuklewicz directed the Choir. It was a good period for the Warsaw Philharmonic: the orchestra was enlarged, the hall gained an organ, and performances of modern music achieved great success leading to the establishment of the First International Festival of Contemporary Music, in October 1956, known as Warsaw Autumn. In 1958 Witold Rowicki was again appointed artistic director and principal conductor of the orchestra, a post he held until 1977. Stanisław Wisłocki and Andrzej Markowski were also working with the Orchestra as permanent guest conductors, the latter serving also as deputy to the artistic director from 1972 to 1974.On July 1, 1977 Kazimierz Kord was appointed artistic director and principal conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic – National Orchestra of Poland. From the beginning of his work with the Orchestra he put stress on enriching the repertoire. As a result, along with the symphonies, oratorios and operas were performed in the Hall. A new venture was the series of performances The National Philharmonic Presents recorded live and released by the Polskie Nagrania recording company. At the beginning of the 1978/79 season Henryk Wojnarowski took over the leadership of the choir. Tadeusz Strugała worked with the Orchestra as permanent guest conductor, serving also as deputy to the artistic director from 1979 to 1990.

Group Members At present the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra has 112 instrumentalists and the Choir has 100 members. Kazimierz Kord has been the Artistic Director and principal conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic National Orchestra of Poland for 22 years. Throughout his artistic career, he has been very closely linked to his own country where he was directing leading Polish musical institutions. In 1962, he was the youngest musician in the world to become the Director and conductor of an Opera House the Cracow Musical Theatre. During his eight years of work there, he prepared over 30 opera and ballet premie`res and also directed. Thanks to his efforts, the Musical Theatre achieved a leading position in Poland. For 4 years, he was the Director of the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. From 1977 onwards, he has been the Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic - National Orchestra of Poland, which has since established its position internationally. He has accompanied the Warsaw Philharmonic on more than 30 successful concert tours in the world’s most prestigious musical centres. Simultaneously to his activities in Poland, he began appearing abroad, conducting numerous orchestras in Europe, Japan and America.One of his great achievements in the field of opera was his long collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York where he prepared The Queen of Spades, Aida, Cosi fan tutte, Macbeth and, for the opening of the 1977/78 season, Boris Godunov. He also worked with the Opera in San Francisco where he prepared, amongst others, Falstaff and Otello. In Europe, he has worked with the opera houses of Amsterdam, Munich, Düsseldorf, London (Covent Garden) and Copenhagen (Royal Opera).In the United States, he has conducted numerous symphony orchestras, notably in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Dallas, Cincinnati (where he was the first guest conductor). In Europe, he has performed, among other cities, in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, Leningrad, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Vienna, Moscow and Stuttgart. In the 1980s he was the Artistic Director of the Südwestfunk Orchester Baden -Baden for 6 seasons. In Japan, he conducted the orchestras in Osaka and Tokyo. His artistic interest cover several epochs and styles, however his preference goes towards large forms with dramatic tension and contemporary works, presented during the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Lutosławski Forum and the Donaueschingen Festival.He has made recordings for such prestigious labels as Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Philips. Among his latest releases are the complete Beethoven’s symphonies (Polmusic, CD Accord), Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 (Philips) and works by Szymanowski, Penderecki, Panufnik and Szymański (CD Accord). He has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions in Poland and abroad.

Instruments Full Orchestra

Albums See CD ACCORD Website for albums

Location Warsaw - Poland

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