The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert on 5 November 1901 in the newly erected Philharmonic Hall. This inaugural concert was conducted by Emil Młynarski, the Philharmonic’s first music director and principal conductor, and featured the world-famous pianist, composer and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, one of the founders of the Philharmonic, who was then at the peak of his international career. The all-Polish programme of this concert included Paderewski’s Piano Concerto in A minor as well as solo works by Chopin, compositions by Stanisław Moniuszko, Zygmunt Stojowski, and Władysław Żeleński.
The Warsaw Philharmonic quickly achieved a high standard of performance, establishing itself as the main Polish centre of musical life and one of the major musical institutions in Europe. Already in the first season performances were given here by nearly all the famous soloists of the day, including Leopold Auer, Aleksander Bandrowski, Leopold Godovsky, Fritz Kreisler, Moritz Rosenthal, Eugène Ysayë, Arthur Rubinstein, Pablo Sarasate, as well as great conductors, such as Artur Nikisch, Édouard Colonne and Richard Strauss.
In 1905 Emil Młynarski left. From 1909 Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras first conductor had been Grzegorz Fitelberg and after World War I Zdzisław Birnbaum took the baton. During the first postwar years the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted notably by Olgierd Straszyński and Andrzej Panufnik. In January 1950 the post of director and principal conductor was entrusted to Witold Rowicki, who embarked on the task of assembling a new orchestra. Despite the difficult working conditions related to the lack of its own venue (concerts were given in sport halls and later at the Roma Theatre), thanks to Rowicki’s efforts the orchestra regained its position as Poland’s leading ensemble.
The opening of the new Philharmonic Hall in Jasna Street, on the site of its earlier building destroyed by German bombing raids, took place on 21 February 1955. On that day Warsaw Philharmonic received the title of the National Philharmonic, which emphasised its status as Poland’s most important music institution.
During the years 1955–58, the orchestra’s Director was Bohdan Wodiczko, a distinguished promoter of contemporary music, who collaborated with Arnold Rezler and Stanisław Skrowaczewski, among others. The orchestral forces were reorganised and enlarged. The enormous success enjoyed by performances of twentieth-century music led to the establishment at Warsaw Philharmonic of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music, which eventually became one of the most important festivals of its kind in the world.
In 1958 Witold Rowicki was once again appointed artistic director and principal conductor of the Philharmonic—posts he held until 1977. The Orchestra’s principal guest conductors at that time were Stanisław Wisłocki and Andrzej Markowski. Under Rowicki’s directorship, foreign concert tours and performances in prestigious concert halls throughout the world became a permanent feature of the orchestra’s artistic schedule.
On 1 July 1977, the posts of artistic director and principal conductor were taken up by Kazimierz Kord. From the beginning of his work with the orchestra, he placed emphasis on extending the repertoire with operatic and other large-scale vocal–instrumental works as well as many contemporary compositions. New initiatives included the concert cycle The National Philharmonic Presents, recorded live and released on LPs by Polskie Nagrania, as well as concerts given by undergraduates of the Warsaw Music Academy. Together with Witold Lutosławski, Kazimierz Kord put forward the idea of brief contemporary music festivals conceived as a meeting place for various disciplines of the arts. The first of these festivals took place after Lutosławski death and was named the Lutosławski Forum in his honour.
In 1979–90 the Warsaw Philharmonic’s deputy artistic director and conductor was Tadeusz Strugała. From 2002 to 2013 the managing and artistic director of Warsaw Philharmonic was Antoni Wit, who continued the repertoire policy of his predecessor, augmenting it by further increasing the presence of Polish music, frequently performed by foreign artists, and introducing concert performances of famous operas. He introduced composers-in-residence, whose music is performed throughout the season and who coprogramme the Philharmonic’s contemporary music concerts. Under Wit, the Warsaw Philharmonic also began to record more music: over fifty albums, including forty on the Naxos label. These recordings of mainly Polish music (Karłowicz, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Penderecki, Górecki, and Kilar) received numerous awards, including a 2012 Grammy. In August 2013 Antoni Wit concluded his tenure as Warsaw Philharmonic’s director, conducting the Orchestra’s historic debut at the BBC Proms Festival in London.
From the 2013/14 season, the post of Warsaw Philharmonic’s director was taken over by Wojciech Nowak, the institution’s former deputy managing and artistic director (from 1998), whereas the position of artistic director, responsible for the development of the Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the repertoire policy, and the choice of guest artists, went to Jacek Kaspszyk. He inaugurated his tenure on 1 September 2013 by conducting the Philharmonic’s ensembles in the final concert of the “Chopin and his Europe” Festival, followed on 22 September by a historic Warsaw Autumn performance of Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto (with pianist Krystian Zimerman) and Symphony no. 3—one of the highlights of the Lutosławski Year. Kaspszyk also conducted the first three concerts in the history of the Philharmonic to be streamed via the Internet. The Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has made nearly 140 tours on five continents and has appeared in almost every major concert hall, warmly received by audiences and praised by music critics for its charismatic performances. The orchestra has also performed at many prestigious international festivals, including Vienna, Berlin, Prague, Bergen, Lucerne, Montreux, Moscow, Brussels, Florence, Bordeaux, and Athens as well as the La Folle Journée festivals in Nantes, Bilbao, Lisbon, and Tokyo. The Orchestra also regularly participates in the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Chopin and his Europe Festival, and Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. It records for the Polish Radio and Polish TV, for Polish and foreign record labels as well as film companies.
The list of famous international conductors and soloists who have performed with Warsaw Philharmonic includes, apart from the most distinguished Polish artists, also Hermann Abendroth, Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kathleen Battle, Joshua Bell, Teresa Berganza, Gary Bertini, Herbert Blomstedt, Ian Bostridge, Alfred Brendel, Giuliano Carmignola, Aram Khachaturian, Charles Dutoit, Philippe Entremont, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Philippe Herreweghe, Robert Holl, Marek Janowski, Sumi Jo, Nigel Kennedy, Evgeny Kissin, Gidon Kremer, Lang Lang, Felicity Lott, Radu Lupu, Lorin Maazel, Mischa Maisky, Igor Markevitch, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Midori, Marc Minkowski, Shlomo Mintz, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Kent Nagano, David and Igor Oistrakh, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Simon Rattle, Sviatoslav Richter, Helmuth Rilling, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Artur Rubinstein, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Isaac Stern, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Henryk Szeryng, Arcadi Volodos, and many others.