First visit to the Philharmonic Filharmonia Narodowa

The philharmonic, like an opera house, is often associated with evening wear, elegant suits and dresses, but many of our guests visit the concert hall in totally original outfits. However, refined elegance is not a requirement – not everyone feels comfortable in a tie or high heels. If that applies to you, we recommend simple, neat clothing – whatever makes you feel comfortable.

One of the greatest composers of all time, Ludwig van Beethoven, dressed so ‘casually’ (sloppily) during the 1810s that he was arrested by the Viennese police and charged with vagrancy. We do not recommend following his example in this regard.

Dress the way you like. In your own style. Wear what you feel comfortable in.

To attend concerts in the Concert Hall, please use the main entrance on Sienkiewicz Street. For concerts in the Chamber Hall, use the entrance on Moniuszko Street. If you feel lost once inside, you can always ask our ushers for help. They will show you the right entrance, tell you how to find your seat and, if you would like to read a few words about the artists and the works being performed, recommend our programme brochures. If you arrive after the concert has already started, you will be asked to wait a moment; our staff will wait for a convenient moment to let you into the hall (usually during applause) and will also show you the nearest available seats where you can listen to the concert for the time being before taking your proper seat after the interval.

There is no public car park in the immediate vicinity of the Philharmonic. To avoid being late, we recommend using public transport or arriving well in advance. You can enter up to an hour before the concert begins. Before Friday concerts, we hold introductory meetings about the evening’s programme as part of the series What Are We Playing About?

Before the concert and during the interval, please visit the buffets located in the foyer. No food or drink is allowed in either of the concert halls. We recommend helpful sweets and lozenges for coughs and dry throats. If they are individually wrapped, it is a good idea to unwrap them beforehand. To our knowledge, most composers did not take additional rustling from the auditorium into account in their works.

As can be read in the book 100 lat Filharmonii w Warszawie [100 years of the Warsaw Philharmonic], at the pre-war Warsaw Philharmonic, ‘Entire rows of chairs could be removed using a screw system and hidden beneath the floorboards. This was to allow space to be freed up in the auditorium and tables to be set out so that the audience at popular concerts could eat while listening to the music. The plan was to serve only cold dishes, so that the smell of hot food would not interfere with the concert experience. Critics of the idea, which was entirely new to Warsaw, wondered whether the sound of cutlery would be as annoying as the culinary smells’.

You have arrived, found your seat, and the orchestra is waiting on stage. When will the concert begin? This is announced by gongs – single, double and triple. Shortly after the last one, the ushers will close the doors and the orchestra will begin to tune up at the signal of the concertmaster, the first violinist, sitting closest to the conductor’s rostrum. Then silence will fall again. It will only be broken when the conductor enters the stage: this is the start of the concert.

In the past, concerts have begun in different ways. At the court of Louis XIV, the sound of the orchestra did not yet mark the beginning of the artistic part of the programme. The French courtiers first heard a march introduction, during which the king majestically took his place in the auditorium. Only then did the proper music begin. Today, however, it is not the monarch but the conductor who controls the course of the concert, and it is his or her entrance that we await.

Many orchestral compositions (symphonies, concertos with soloists) consist of several movements. The generally accepted rule is that we do not applaud after each movement, but only after the entire work has been performed. If you are unsure when a piece will end, the printed programme or its digital version on our website will be helpful.

In the past, however, people clapped more often. The second, slow movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E flat major, K. 482 was received with such enthusiastic applause that the composer had no choice but to perform it again! However, such enthusiasm should be reserved for particularly moving and exceptional moments.

On the other hand, if the audience did not like a work, their reactions could be very harsh. Igor Stravinsky’s legendary The Rite of Spring caused a scandal at its premiere, and the arguments among the audience were so loud that they drowned out the music. Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 (‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’) was booed by the audience at the Warsaw Autumn festival. In short, listeners can freely show their appreciation or disapproval of a work or its performers. Of course, we strongly encourage you to applaud the musicians’ efforts.

If you wish to leave the hall during a concert, please be careful when getting up from your seat – it folds up automatically with a rather loud noise, which could disturb the concert.

When moving to your seat or leaving a concert early, please face the person you are passing. If you are letting others pass, a good way to avoid a squeeze is to stand up.

The Philharmonic resounds with music. Additional background noise, especially from ringtones, is not necessarily conducive to listening. ‘Please turn off your mobile phones, do not record and do not take photos during the concert’ – this is the message you will hear before the concert begins.

At the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, during a recital by the outstanding cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, a mobile phone rang in the hall. The artist interrupted the concert, stood up and said to the owner of the phone: ‘I'm very sorry, please give my regards to your fiancée!’

Our guests may also be equipped with other devices, like a smartwatch or hearing aid. If the latter starts to emit coupling sounds, please gently notify your neighbour that the device is too loud.

Applause after the end of a concert is usually longer than that after individual items on the programme. This is because it is a thank you not only to the artists on stage, but also to the entire Philharmonic: the people who organise the musicians’ work on a daily basis, carry out promotional activities, create the educational programme, prepare the concert programmes and ensure that our institution can continue to welcome you to concerts. If a concert makes a particularly striking impression, you can express your gratitude with a standing ovation. This is the greatest joy for us!

After the concert, all audience members head to the cloakroom and the exit. Please be careful, especially on the stairs. After all, we want you to come back to us as soon as possible!