ORKIESTRA MUZYKI NOWEJ (NEW MUSIC ORCHESTRA)

was founded in 1996 on the initiative of Aleksander Lasoń, professor at the Music Academy in Katowice.

For over two decades the OMN has explored modern music, looking for milestone compositions that engage the listener, innovative, sometimes forgotten works that deserve a public revival. is activity has produced over 150 premieres at Polish and international festivals as well as a number of broadcast and studio recordings that were highly rated by critics and the international music milieu, garnering accolades such as P2-Prize (Danish Radio award), Pizzicato Supersonic Award (Luxembourg), International Rostrum of Composers (Paris and Amsterdam), as well as a nomination for the 2003 Fryderyk Awards and International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).

The OMN's performing competences, valued by composers, festival organisers, modern music promoters, and record companies alike, are the result of working with leading conductors, soloists, and sound engineers, as well as the Orchestra's courage in undertaking artistic challenges, playing the unplayable and the rejected by other performers. The OMN has also inspired and organised many various artistic undertakings, including CD recordings, the New Music Festival, promotional concerts, first performances, and interdisciplinary events involving dancers, soloists, singers, multimedia, and computer technology, presented in atypical venues outside the traditional concert hall. OMN has for many years participated in artistic and educational projects, working with Europe's leading new music ensembles and institutions.

Starting with the 2014/15 season, the OMN runs its own concert cycle, presenting monthly programmes of the latest music and 21st-century classics at the NOSPR orchestra seat in Katowice.

Since 2006, the ensemble has been directed by Szymon Bywalec.