Sinfonia Varsovia
An ensemble formed in April 1984 with the expansion of the Polish Chamber Orchestra. The impulse behind its creation was the arrival in Poland of the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, to an invitation from Waldemar Dąbrowski and Franciszek Wybrańczyk, director of the Polish Chamber Orchestra. In performances with Menuhin, the ensemble soon won public acclaim in Poland and abroad, and Menuhin took the post of principal guest conductor.
Over the years, Sinfonia Varsovia has performed in the world’s most prestigious concert halls, alongside such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Witold Lutosławski, Lorin Maazel, Emmanuel Krivine and Jerzy Maksymiuk, and soloists of the calibre of Mstislav Rostropovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich and Piotr Anderszewski. Since its inception, the orchestra has given more than four thousand concerts on five continents and recorded over 300 discs.
Music director from 1997, and artistic director from 2003 to 2020, was Krzysztof Penderecki. From 2008 to 2012 the role of music director was fulfilled by Marc Minkowski. In 2004, Franciszek Wybrańczyk appointed as director of Sinfonia Varsovia a long-serving member of the ensemble, Janusz Marynowski, who has held the post to this day. In September 2022, Aleksandar Marković became principal guest conductor of Sinfonia Varsovia.
[2022]