Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra continues the long and rich tradition of chamber music performed by artists associated with Warsaw Philharmonic. In the 2021/2022 artistic season, the ensemble celebrates its 20-year anniversary.
The first chamber ensembles were founded in the Philharmonic early in the 20th century. In the 1960’s and 70’s, the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Musicians’ Ensemble under Karol Teutsch scored numerous successes on the world’s concert stages. In the 1990s, a string orchestra gave concerts with eminent soloists (Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Nigel Kennedy) as well as recording for record companies and the television. The Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra was reactivated in the context of the Philharmonic’s centenary celebrations and gave its first concert on 10 February 2002. It was formed by leading Warsaw Philharmonic instrumentalists, including former members of Karol Teutsch’s ensemble.
The Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra has performed with such outstanding artists as, among others: Salvatore Accardo, Hrachya Avanesyan, Jean-Louis Capezzali, Łukasz Długosz, Marek Drewnowski, Urszula Dudziak, Chiara Enderle, Lorenzo Gatto, Evelyn Glennie, Ilya Gringolts, Wojciech Gierlach, Philippe Giusiano, Krzysztof Herdzin, Yossif Ivanov, Andrzej Jagodziński, Jakub Jakowicz, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Isabelle van Keulen, Jacek Kortus, Jadwiga Kotnowska, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Rafał Kwiatkowski, Roby Lakatos, Dmitri Makhtin, Adam Makowicz, Ewa Małas-Godlewska, Shlomo Mintz, Grzegorz Nowak, Artur Pachlewski, Mariusz Patyra, Piotr Pławner, Baiba Skride, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Agata Szymczewska, Edward Zienkowski.
In February 2009, the Orchestra celebrated Grażyna Bacewicz’s birth centenary with a programme composed entirely of that eminent composer’s works, including the premieres of two recently discovered pieces: the Sinfonietta of 1929 and Symphony of 1946. Symphony and Simfonietta (piece from 1935) were released on a CD dedicated to Bacewicz’s music for string orchestra, recorded by the Orchestra for Sony Music. The Orchestra’s 10th anniversary in December 2011 was celebrated with a concert, released on CD by Warsaw Philharmonic / CD Accord (a Fryderyk Award nomination in 2013). The Orchestra under Antoni Wit also recorded Krzysztof Penderecki’s Fonogrammi for a Grammy-awarded CD of Penderecki’s works, released by Naxos in February 2013.
In 2016, the Orchestra performed in the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in Japan and in 2019, in Seoul Arts Center in South Korea.
In the 2021/2022 artistic season, the ensemble celebrates its 20-year anniversary.
