The Orchestra performed under the baton of its new artistic director, Andrey Boreyko, accompanied by soloists Rafał Blechacz (Tokyo, Yokohama) and Kyohei Sorita (Fukuoka, Fuji, Osaka). The concert programme included Overture to the opera Paria by Stanisław Moniuszko, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ‘From New World’ by Antonín Dvořák Dvořák and both piano concertos by Fryderyk Chopin.
Since his victory in the 15th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2005, Rafał Blechacz has achieved a position of the truly world-famous artist. He performed in the most prestigious venues such as Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Berliner Philharmonie, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Herkulessaal in Munich, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Royal Festival Hall as well as the Wigmore Hall in London, Tonhalle in Zurich and La Scala in Milan. He was invited to the best music festivals, including Salzburg, Verbier in Switzerland, La Roque-d'Anthéron in France, Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany as well as The Gilmore Festival in the USA. He has played with numerous symphony orchestras, working with outstanding conductors like Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Pavo Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagono, Andris Nelsons, Victor Pablo Perez, Trevor Pinnock, Mikhail Pletnev, Jerzy Semkow, Antoni Wit and Dawid Zinman. In 2014 he was awarded the Gilmore Artist Award, sometimes called ‘the Piano Nobel’. In 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, the German record company. He is the second in history, after Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist signed up by this prestigious label. The pianist’s extensive discography includes award-winning albums with works by Fryderyk Chopin, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy and Karol Szymanowski.
Andrey Boreyko is a conductor of Polish and Russian ancestry, in September 2019 appointed the new artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. A graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in Saint Petersburg, he served as artistic director of the Poznań Philharmonic before assuming the position of principal conductor and artistic director of the Jenaer Philharmonie (1998–2003). From 2012 to 2017, Andrey Boreyko served as music director of the Orchestre National de Belgique. In September 2014, he took up the post of music director of the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. The conductor is regularly invited to collaborate with many world-class orchestras. He has led, among others, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest. In Asia, Andrey Boreyko has has performed with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. To great acclaim he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in one of the most eagerly awaited musical events of the 2014/2015 season in the United States – the first ever American performance of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Symphony No. 4. He was also at the podium when the London Philharmonic Orchestra (2014) performed the world premiere of the same piece and took part in its first ever recording (Nonesuch Records). The artist boasts an extensive discography, including recordings with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Belgique.
The Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has made over 150 concert tours around five continents, and has appeared in all of the world’s major concert venues, receiving high acclaim from audiences and critics alike for its superb and charismatic interpretations. The ensemble has performed at many prestigious international festivals, including in Vienna, Berlin, Prague, Bergen, Lucerne, Montreux, Moscow, Brussels, Florence, Bordeaux, Athens, Bilbao, Lisbon, and Tokyo, as well as at the La Folle Journée Festival in Nantes. The Orchestra participates regularly in the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, the Chopin and His Europe International Music Festival, and the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. It has recorded for Polish Radio, Polish and foreign record labels, and film companies.
Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra 2019 Japan Tour
31st October 2019 7:00 pm, Fukuoka, Venue: Acros Fukuoka
1st November 2019 7:00 pm, Fuji, Venue: Fuji-shi Rose Theatre
2nd November 2019 2:00 pm, Tokyo, Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
3rd November 2019 2:00 pm, Osaka, Venue: Fenice Sacay, Sakai Performing Arts Centre
4th November 2019 2:00 pm, Yokohama, Venue: Yokohama Minatomirai Hall
Sources: promotional materials, Culture.pl, blechacz.net, filharmonia.pl, edited by AW, 22 Nov 2019