Organ Concert to Mark the 120th Anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic Filharmonia Narodowa

Go to content
Organ Concert to Mark the 120th Anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic
Chrmistian Schmitt, fot. Uwe Arens

Ladies and gentlemen,
We regret to inform you that the symphony concerts scheduled for 29 and 30 October 2021 have been cancelled.

Tickets purchased for cancelled concerts are refundable - at the Warsaw Philharmonic box offices or via the bilety24.pl service, if you have made an online purchase.
For more information, please contact bilety@filharmonia.pl

 

 


The first of a series of organ concerts with which the Warsaw Philharmonic will be celebrating its 120th anniversary features several appealing works by three great German neo-Romantics and Wojciech Kilar, who was always very closely associated with our institution (in 2001 he honoured its centenary with his Missa pro pace). His hypnotic Exodus (1981) is a vocal-symphonic poem, a great “crescendo” for choir and orchestra, similar in this regard to Ravel’s Bolero.

Following the Overture to Wagner’s Tannhäuser we will hear Bacchanal – a scene added specially to the Parisian staging of the piece to allow room for a display of dance and in this way meet the demands of the French capital. Unfortunately, it diverged so greatly from the audience’s expectations that it caused a scandal, which long cast a shadow over the reception of Wagner’s music in France.

Born in the Principality of Liechtenstein, Joseph Rheinberger proved himself to be a child prodigy; he later pursued (mainly in Munich) a career as an organ player, conductor, chorus master, and respected teacher. His works are characterised by perfect technique and subtle harmony, with a particular penchant for euphony – these features are evident in his extensive and spectacular Organ Concerto, the first of two such works he composed, and one of only a few ever written for organ and orchestra.

The programme of the 1913 inaugural concert of the Wiener Konzerthaus, attended by Emperor Franz Joseph, included Beethoven’s Ninth and a new piece written especially for this occasion by Richard Strauss – the solemn Festliches Präludium, which opens with the sound of the organ. The Philharmonic’s jubilee is a perfect occasion to reacquaint our audiences with this relatively rarely performed work.

Close

Bartosz Michałowski

Bartosz Michałowski graduated with distinction in choral conducting from Poznań Music Academy. In 1998–2005, he was assistant to Stefan Stuligrosz and conductor of the ‘Poznań Nightingales’ Boys’ and Men’s Choir, with which he performed extensively in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Russia and Japan.

He won first prize in the 9th Polish National Choral Conductors Competition in Poznań. In 2015, he won the Orphée d‘Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, and was nominated for one of the Polish record industry’s Fryderyk awards. In 2020, he received a Fryderyk for a recording of Szymanowski’s opera Hagith (with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir). He also received two nominations for the International Classical Music Awards 2022. Michałowski is the founder and artistic director of Poznań Chamber Choir, one of the leading Polish ensembles of its kind, and of the ‘Opus 966’ Polish Composition Competition. He also devised the ‘Pisz muzykę – to proste!’ (‘Write music – it’s easy!’) composing workshops for children and coproduced the ‘Obrazogranie’ (‘Picture playing’) project at the National Museum in Poznań.

As Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, he has conducted Szymanowski’s Kurpian Songs, masses by Kodály and Gretchaninov, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, and oratorios: Paulus by Mendelssohn, Messiah by Handel, Christ on the Mount of Olives by Beethoven and Litanies of Ostra Brama by Moniuszko. He prepared the ensemble for the first ever performance of Anton Rubinstein’s sacred opera Moses (conducted by Michail Jurowski) and for a performance and the first ever recording of Moniuszko’s opera The Pariah in Italian, and has also helped prepare vocal-instrumental concerts of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Andrzej Boreyko, Ton Koopman, König, Matthew Halls, Martin Haselböck, Jacek Kaspszyk and Krzysztof Penderecki.

He has participated in renowned festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, and has collaborated regularly with renowned institutions and orchestras. He has numerous first performances to his credit.

In addition to gaining experience as a conductor, Bartosz Michałowski has spent many years working on enhancing his skills and knowledge in the field of voice production, completing masterclasses with Poppy Holden (Great Britain), Christian Elsner (Germany) and Jozef Frakstein (Poland). He holds a PhD and is a lecturer at the Chopin University of Music.

 

[2023]