Sinfonia Varsovia

Polska Orkiestra Kameralna (Polish Chamber Orchestra) was founded in 1972 at the Warsaw Chamber Opera, initially as an orchestra playing chamber operas. Its ambition, however, was to play concerts.

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Sinfonia Varsovia

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Sinfonia Varsovia, photo: Andrzej Świetlik

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The many years of joint work of young talented musicians with the equally young conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk brought results, and the orchestra became independent. It quickly gained reputation of one of the most interesting chamber ensembles. Their first concerts abroad in 1978, followed by numerous concerts in prestigious halls around the world with the most eminent soloists, as well as the flattering reviews and adoration of the audience, brought the orchestra worldwide fame.

Outstanding soloist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin came to Poland in April of 1984 at the invitation of the Polska Orkiestra Kameralna. Yehudi Menuhin was thrilled by what he encountered and immediately signed on to be a regular guest conductor, and shortly afterwards the orchestra assumed the name Sinfonia Varsovia.

In order to meet the demands of the planned performance repertoire, the Orchestra expanded its membership to forty musicians, inviting exceptional artists from the entire country to join. Both the public and critics responded enthusiastically to radio and television concerts offered by the ensemble and conducted by Yehudi Menuhin. And the idea of an orchestra composed of twenty-four string instruments and a double array of woodwinds and brass became a fact.

Much time did not pass before the ensemble received its first offers to perform in the United States and Canada. These were followed by yet more offers - from France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, Switzerland, Greece, Federal Republic of Germany; and in more recent years from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The Sinfonia Varsovia has appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Barbican Centre in London and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; at festivals in Gstaad (the Yehudi Menuhin Festival), Montreux, Schleswig-Holstein, Wurzburg and Aix-en-Provence; at the Pablo Casals Festival (San Juan), in Salzburg, at the Alte Oper (Frankfurt am Main), the Festiwal Muzyki na Morzu / Festival of Music on the Sea and others. Long-term commitment and careful work constitute the basis for the orchestra's excellence, and all performance positions in the body are filled through competition.

Possessing an almost limitless repertoire, the orchestra performs under the direction of some of the world's best conductors, who have included Claudio Abbado, Charles Dutoit, Justus Frantz, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Hans Graf, Leopold Hager, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jan Krenz, Emmanuel Krivine, Witold Lutosławski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Yehudi Menuhin, Wojciech Michniewski, Grzegorz Nowak, Krzysztof Penderecki, Michel Plasson, Mstislav Rostropovich, Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach, Jerzy Semkow, Mariusz Smolij, Jerzy Swoboda, Muhai Tang, Bruno Weil, as well as with world famous soloists like Salvatore Accardo, Maurice André; Martha Argerich, Teresa Berganza, Alfred Brendel, José Carreras, Sarah Chang, José Cura, Placido Domingo, Augustin Dumay, Justus Frantz, James Galway, Fou Ts'ong, Krzysztof Jabłonski, Kiri Te Kanawa, Gidon Kremer, Alicia de Larrocha, Elisabeth Leonskaya, Christa Ludwig, Radu Lupu, Mischa Maisky, Yehudi Menuhin, Shlomo Mintz, Oli Mustonen, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Janusz Olejniczak, Ewa Osińska, Michaela Petri, Murray Perahia, Maria Joao Pires, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Samuel Ramey, Vadim Repin, Katia Ricciarelli, Mstislav Rostropovich, Heinrich Schiff, Henryk Szeryng, Maria Tipo, Maksym Vengerow, Andreas Vollenweider, Alexis Weissenberg, Christian Zacharias, Frank-Peter Zimmerman, Tabea Zimmerman, Grigorij Żyslin.

The orchestra has produced numerous recordings for companies like Pathe Marconi-EMI, Virgin Classics, Decca, Denon Nippon Columbia, Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve, Naxos, Sony, Aperto, Polskie Nagrania (Polish Recordings), Polskie Radio (Polish Radio), NIFC, IMG Records/Carlton Classics, Virgin and CD Accord, and in the process garnered many prestigious awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’Or, and nine Fryderyk (Polish music awards) statuettes.

The band’s discography includes over 300 records and many radio and television recordings. In June 2008, three albums of Sinfonia Varsovia: Haendel, Telemann with Gábor Boldoczki (Sony/BMG Sony Classical), New Seasons with Albrecht Mayer (Universal/Deutsche Grammophon), and Polish Spirit with Nigel Kennedy (EMI Classics) were awarded the prestigious German phonographic industry award in 2008 – the Echo Klassik. In 2010, their CD with Chopin’s piano concertos performed by Jan Lisiecki and Sinfonia Varsovia under the baton of Howard Shelley received the prestigious Diapason Découverte award.

The orchestra’s repertoire is extremely rich and includes works from the 18th century to the present day. Its achievements also include world and Polish premieres of works by John Adams, Krzesimir Debski, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Witold Lutosławski, Paweł Mykietyn, Onute Narbutaite, Krzysztof Penderecki, Zbigniew Preisner, Marta Ptaszyńska, Marcin Stańczyk, Paweł Szymański.

In celebration of the eightieth birthday of Lord Menuhin in 1996, the Sinfonia Varsovia recorded the complete symphonies of Ludvig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert for IMG Records under Menuhin's direction. The orchestra also embarked on a series of concert tours, giving sixty-five concerts in among other places... The group also took part in the Klangbogen Festival (Vienna), as well as festival events in Strasbourg, Montpellier, Pollenca (Mallorca) and Gstaad (Switzerland).

In 1997 Krzysztof Penderecki, who had enjoyed a relationship with the Sinfonia Varsovia for many years as a conductor, became the orchestra's musical director. Penderecki and the orchestra perform in concert throughout Poland and around the world, with the orchestra's repertoire including such works by this composer as Sinfonietta per archi, Sinfonietta No. 2, Koncert na flet / Flute concerto, Koncert na altowkę / Viola concerto (also in its version for cello and clarinet), Stabat Mater, De profundis, as well as his Credo and Siedem bram Jerozolimy / Seven Gates of Jerusalem. Krzysztof Penderecki has recorded a number of CDs with the Sinfonia Varsovia, among them an album of his own compositions.

From 2001 to 2004, the main guest conductor of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra was the world-famous Argentine singer José Cura, who inaugurated his cooperation with the orchestra as conductor during an extraordinary concert at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw on 25th November 2000.

In 2000, the then director of the orchestra, Franciszek Wybrańczyk, founded the Sinfonia Varsovia Foundation, which supports the orchestra’s artistic endeavours, in particular by promoting Polish composers and young talents. Every year the foundation organises the Sinfonia Varsovia Swojemu Miastu Franciszek Wybrańczyk Festival. Since 2009, the foundation has also been awarding the Franciszek Wybrańczyk Artistic Scholarship every year to students of music schools of second degree from Mazovia. Apart from the financial award, the young instrumentalist also receives a chance to play at the Summer Concerts at the headquarters of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra.

In the 2006/2007 season the orchestra toured France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Japan and Brazil and took part in important festivals in Poland, including Chopin and His Europe, Wratislavia Cantans, the Beethoven Festival, and the Warsaw Autumn.

The La Folle Journee Music Festival organised by the French C.R.E.A. Association and its artistic director Rene Martin takes a special place in the orchestra’s artistic season. The festival takes place in Nantes, Bilbao, Lisbon, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and is a unique project on an international scale. In 2010, Sinfonia Varsovia organised its own edition of the festival – La Folle Journée / Crazy Music Days – Chopin Open in Warsaw. The next editions of the festival were called Les Titans (2011), Russia (2012), French and Spanish music (2013), and America (2014). The last one gathered over 37,000 listeners. During the three days of the festival 55 concerts took place and 1000 artists performed.

The year 2019 marked the 35th anniversary of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra. On this occasion a ceremonial concert was held in the Wielki Theatre – National Opera.

The Sinfonia Varsovia's permanent presence on some of the world's best-known concert stages and universally favorable reviews from renowned critics confirm the opinion that this ensemble is one of the world's leading chamber orchestras.

Sinfonia Varsovia's website: https://www.sinfoniavarsovia.org/

Source: Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers' Union, January 2002; updated 2006; updated by MG, November 2019.

orchestra

sinfonia varsovia

jerzy maksymiuk