ORKIESTRA FILHARMONII NARODOWEJ (WARSAW PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA)

The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert on 5 November 1901 in the newly erected Philharmonic Hall. at inaugural concert was conducted by Emil Młynarski, the Philharmonic’s first Music Director and Principal Conductor, and featured the world-famous pianist, composer, and future statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski. 

The Warsaw Philharmonic’s rapid rise of performance level soon attracted distinguished artists from all over the world. As early as the 1910s and during the interwar years, it established itself as the main centre of musical life in Poland and one of the major musical institutions in Europe. Performances were given here by many leading conductors and soloists of the day including Claudio Arrau, Edvard Grieg, Arthur Honegger, Vladimir Horowitz, Bronisław Huberman, Otto Klemperer, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Artur Rodziński, Artur Rubinstein, Pablo Sarasate, and Richard Strauss. 

During the first postwar years the Warsaw Philharmonic was directed by Olgierd Straszyński and Andrzej Panufnik, among others. In January 1950 Witold Rowicki became Director and Principal Conductor, and embarked on establishing a new orchestra. The opening of the new Philharmonic Hall on Warsaw’s Jasna Street, on the site earlier destroyed by German bombing raids, took place on 21 February 1955. On that day the Warsaw Philharmonic received the title of the National Philharmonic, highlighting its status as the leading musical institution of Poland. 

In 1955–58 the orchestra’s Director was Bohdan Wodiczko, a distinguished promoter of contemporary music who cooperated with Arnold Rezler and Stanisław Skrowaczewski, among others. The enormous success enjoyed by performances of twentieth-century music led to the establishment at the National Philharmonic of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, which became one of the most important festivals of its kind in the world. 

In 1958 Witold Rowicki was again appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Philharmonic, a post he held until 1977. The Orchestra’s principal guest conductors at the time were Stanisław Wisłocki and Andrzej Markowski. During Rowicki’s directorship, foreign concert tours and performances in prestigious concert halls throughout the world became a permanent feature of the orchestra’s agenda. 

In 1977, the post of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor was assumed by Kazimierz Kord, who held this position until the Philharmonic’s centenary in 2001. Between 1979 and 1990, Kord’s deputy conductor was Tadeusz Strugała. Kord focused on extending the repertoire, including oratorio and operatic works as well as many works of contemporary music. Together with Witold Lutosławski, Kord put forward the idea of short contemporary music festivals combining various disciplines of the arts. The first of these festivals took place after Lutosławski’s death and was named Lutosławski Forum in his honour. 

From 2002 to 2013 the Managing and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic was Antoni Wit, who continued the repertoire policy of his predecessor but increased the presence of Polish music, often performed by foreign artists. Under his baton, various ensembles of the Warsaw Philharmonic recorded over fifty CD albums, of which forty for Naxos. These recordings of mainly Polish composers (Karłowicz, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Penderecki, Górecki, and Kilar) received several awards, among them a 2013 Grammy. In August 2013, Antoni Wit concluded his tenure with a debut performance at the BBC Proms. 

Since the 2013/14 season, the post of Artistic Director was held by Jacek Kaspszyk. He opened his tenure on 1 September 2013, conducting the final concert of the Chopin and His Europe Festival followed by a historic Warsaw Autumn Festival concert of Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto and Symphony no. 3 with pianist Krystian Zimerman, the latter also a highlight of the Lutosławski Year, winning the coveted Coryphaeus of Polish Music award for Event of the Year. rough May 2018, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Kaspszyk recorded six CDs with the works of Mieczysław Weinberg; Brahms and Bach orchestrations by Schoenberg; Szymanowski, Wieniawski and Shostakovich with violinist Bomsori Kim, Młynarski, Weinberg and Penderecki (all for Warner Classics); and Chopin with soloist Ingolf Wunder (Deutsche Grammophon, 2015). 

From the beginning of the 2019/20 artistic season, Andrzej Boreyko will become Artistic Director, having actively cooperated with the ensembles of the Warsaw Philharmonic since 2007.

To date, the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has made 140 tours on five continents and has appeared in almost every major concert hall in the world, warmly received by audiences and praised by music critics for its dynamic 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 Warsaw Philharmonic also regularly participates in the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Chopin and His Europe Festival, and the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. It records for the Polish Radio and TV, Polish and foreign record labels as well as lm companies. Since 2016, the Warsaw Philharmonic broadcasts some of its concerts on the internet.