The Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra or the Symphony Orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Society () is a professional

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

based in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, Poland. The national status of the orchestra is reflected in its program of events, including weekly symphonic concerts in the Wawel Royal Castle, or at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Collegium Novum The ''Collegium Novum'' (Latin: "New College") is the Neo-Gothic main building of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, originally built between the year 1363 and 1365 and after its destruction, rebuilt in between 1873 and 1887. Based ...

, and prominent Kraków churches. The company is more active professionally than any other philharmonic orchestra in the country. The Symphony Orchestra, presently residing in the Kraków Philharmonic Hall, came into being in 1945. It was the first professional symphony orchestra in postwar Poland, formed at the local concert hall during the Soviet offensive. The first postwar director as well as the conductor of the historic first performance held on February 3, 1945 (three months before the

end of World War II in Europe The end of World War II in Europe occurred in May 1945. Following the Death of Adolf Hitler, suicide of Adolf Hitler on 30 April, leadership of Nazi Germany passed to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and the Flensburg Government. Soviet Union, Soviet t ...

), was Zygmunt Latoszewski, survivor of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

Historical background

Although the attempts to create the first modern-type symphony orchestra in the city go back to the 18th century under Austrian rule, the professional team was assembled in Kraków only during the imminent collapse of Austria-Hungary (1909), on the initiative of patriotic composer and music director

Feliks Nowowiejski Feliks Nowowiejski (7 February 1877 – 18 January 1946) was a Polish composer, conductor, concert organist, and music teacher. Nowowiejski was born in Wartenburg (today Barczewo) in Warmia in the Prussian Partition of Poland (then adminis ...

(born 1877). Soon after the return of Poland's sovereignty at the end of World War One, the company was reinstated, with an inaugural concert held on May 18, 1919, for the centennial anniversary of

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5 (17), 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, including '' The Haunted Manor'' and '' Halka'', and his music is filled with patr ...

's birthday, featuring 80 musicians. In 1931 a brand new concert hall ''(pictured)'' was built at Zwierzyniecka Street. The resident orchestra was active there until the Nazi-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, with the last performance held on May 21, 1939, under the direction of Bronisław Wolfstahl.

Artistic profile

the Orchestra has been around for almost sixty years, with a new generation of performers and soloists. It consists of almost one hundred musicians in sixteen sections with five concert-masters whose profiles can be obtained from its official website. In 1962 it was named after composer

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

(1882–1937) whose abundant works the orchestra has performed regularly ever since; along with pieces by another great Polish composer living in Kraków,

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

. Penderecki served as the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of the orchestra in 1988–1990, and from 1993 held the post of its honorary artistic director. Over the years, the Orchestra has made a host of popular recordings, among them, with music by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (;

r 1859 R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The lette ...

– 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's Prime Minister of Poland, prime minister and foreign minister durin ...

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...

Mieczysław Karłowicz Mieczysław Karłowicz (, 11 December 18768 February 1909) was a Polish composer and conductor. Life Mieczysław Karłowicz was born in Vishneva, in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) into a noble family belonging to ...

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

Grażyna Bacewicz Grażyna Bacewicz Biernacka (; 5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist of Lithuanian origin. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Ma ...

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

and others. The Kraków Philharmonic performed in over 30 foreign countries including in almost all of Europe as well as in Iran, Japan, Canada, South Korea,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, Turkey and USA. Their concerts were led by the most prominent Polish conductors including Zygmunt Latoszewski,

Bohdan Wodiczko Bohdan Wodiczko (2 July 1911, in Warsaw – 12 May 1985, in Warsaw) was a Polish conductor and music teacher. Early life and education Born July 1, 1911 in Warsaw, Wodiczko first studied violin at the Warsaw Frederick Chopin Music School and the ...

Witold Rowicki Witold Rowicki (born ''Witold Kałka'', 26 February 1914 – 1 October 1989) was a Polish conductor. He held principal conducting positions with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Witold Lutoslawski's Conc ...

Kazimierz Kord Kazimierz Kord (18 November 1930 – 29 April 2021) was a Polish conductor. Between 1949 and 1955, he studied piano at the Leningrad Conservatory. He also studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków. He held major conducting positions with the P ...

Jerzy Maksymiuk Jerzy Jan Maksymiuk (born 9 April 1936) is a Polish composer, pianist and orchestra conductor. Personal life Maksymiuk was born in Grodno, Second Polish Republic (now Belarus). He studied violin, piano, conducting and composition at the Warsaw ...

, Krzysztof Penderecki,

Antoni Wit Antoni Wit (born 7 February 1944) is a Polish conductor, composer, lawyer and professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. Between 2002 and 2013, he served as the artistic director of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. Life a ...

, and from abroad:

Hermann Abendroth Hermann Paul Maximilian Abendroth (19 January 1883 – 29 May 1956) was a German conductor. Early life Abendroth was born on 19 January 1883, at Frankfurt, the son of a bookseller. Several other members of the family were artists in diverse dis ...

Nikolai Anosov :''To be distinguished from Anosov Nikolai Pavlovich (1835–1890), head engineer of Amur District.'' Nikolai Pavlovich Anosov (; – 2 December 1962) was a Soviet conductor and pedagogue who conducted the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (МГ� ...

Roger Désormière Roger Désormière () (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conducting, conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music. Life and career ...

, Dean Dixon,

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His father Alexander Do ...

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...

, Konstantin Ivanov,

Paweł Klecki Paul Kletzki (born Paweł Klecki; 21 March 1900 – 5 March 1973) was a Polish conductor and composer. Biography Born in Łódź, Kletzki joined the Łódź Philharmonic at the age of fifteen as a violinist. After serving in the World War I, F ...

Kirill Kondrashin Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin (; – 7 March 1981) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. People's Artist of the USSR (1972). Early life Kondrashin was born in Moscow to a family of orchestral musicians. Having spent many hours at rehearsals, he ma ...

Rafael Kubelík Rafael Jeroným Kubelík, KBE (29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech conductor and composer. The son of a distinguished violinist, Jan Kubelík, he was trained in Prague and made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the a ...

Gilbert Levine Sir Gilbert Levine, GCSG (born January 22, 1948) is an American conductor. He is considered an "outstanding personality in the world of international music television." He has led the PBS concert debuts of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Ph ...

Jean Martinon Jean Francisque-Étienne Martinon (also known as Jean Martinon (); 10 January 19101 March 1976) was a French conductor and composer. Biography Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire de Paris to ...

, Sir John Pritchard,

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakade ...

Jerzy Semkow Jerzy Semkow (12 October 1928 – 23 December 2014) was a Polish conducting, conductor. Semkow was born in Radomsko, Poland, later took French citizenship and resided in Paris. He studied in Cracow and Leningrad. His conducting mentors included ...

Giuseppe Sinopoli Giuseppe Sinopoli (; 2 November 1946 – 20 April 2001) was an Italian conductor and composer. Biography Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cerv ...

, and

Carlo Zecchi Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and Conductor (music), conductor. Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a co ...

. A number of world-renowned soloists also performed with the orchestra. The most prominent include

Victoria de los Ángeles Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. ...

Cathy Berberian Catherine Anahid Berberian (July 4, 1925 – March 6, 1983) was an American mezzo-soprano and composer based in Italy. She worked closely with many contemporary avant-garde music composers, including Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, Hen ...

, Stanislav Bunin,

Zara Dolukhanova Zara Aleksandrovna Dolukhanova (, ; 15 March 1918 – 4 December 2007) was a Soviet Armenian mezzo-soprano who achieved fame performing on many lauded radio broadcasts of operas and works from the concert repertoire during the 1940s through the 1 ...

, Dorothy Dorow,

Sidney Harth Sidney Harth (5 October 1925 in Cleveland – 15 February 2011 in Pittsburgh) was an American violinist and conductor. Education Harth was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music and studied with Joseph Fuchs, ...

Gary Karr Gary Michael Karr (born November 20, 1941, in Los Angeles) is an American classical double bass virtuoso and teacher; he is considered one of the best bassists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Biography Although he comes from several generations ...

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and viola, violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and has since expanded into jazz music, jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and ...

Leonid Kogan Leonid Borisovich Kogan (; ; 14 November 1924 – 17 December 1982) was a preeminent Soviet violinist during the 20th century. Many consider him to be among the greatest violinists of the 20th century. In particular, he is considered to have be ...

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer (; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust. His mother had ...

Witold Małcużyński Witold Małcużyński (August 10, 1914July 17, 1977) was a Polish pianist who specialized in the works of Frédéric Chopin. Biography Małcużyński was born in 1914 in Koziczyn (Congress Poland, Russian Empire). He was the older brother of Ka ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

Midori Gotō , who performs under the mononym Midori, is a Japanese-born American violinist. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. In 1986 her performance at the Tanglewood ...

Shlomo Mintz Shlomo Mintz (; born 30 October 1957) is a Russian-born Israeli violinist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world. Early l ...

Tatiana Nikolayeva Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (; May 4, 1924November 22, 1993) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer, and teacher. Life Nikolayeva was born in Bezhitsa, in the Bryansk Oblast, Bryansk district, on May 4, 1924. Her mother was a professional p ...

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olaf Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. In 1970 Ohlsson became the first, and remains the only, competitor from the United States to win the gold medal awarded by the International Chopin Piano Competition, at ...

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and

Igor Oistrakh Igor Davidovich Oistrakh (; April 1931 – 14 August 2021) was a Soviet and Russian violinist. He was described by ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as "noted for his lean, modernist interpretations". Life and career Oistrakh was born in Odessa, to ...

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in L ...

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist and conductor. He was known for performances of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the Second Viennese School, among others. He championed works by contemporary composers ...

Ruggiero Ricci Ruggiero Ricci (24 July 1918 – 5 August 2012) was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini. Biography He was born in San Bruno, California, the son of Italian immigrants who first named him Woodr ...

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...

, Artur Rubinstein,

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Ukraine, Stern moved to the United States when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union a ...

Henryk Szeryng Henryk Bolesław Szeryng (usually pronounced ''HEN-r-ik SHEH-r-in-g'') (22 September 19183 March 1988) was a Polish- Mexican violinist. Early years He was born in Warsaw, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy Jewish family. The surname ...

Narciso Yepes Narciso Yepes (14 November 19273 May 1997) was a Spanish classical guitar, guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century. Biography Yepes was born into a family of humble origin in Lorca, ...

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

, and

Teresa Żylis-Gara Teresa Żylis-Gara (23 January 1930 – 28 August 2021) was a Polish operatic soprano who enjoyed a major international career from the 1950s through the 1990s. She made her stage debut at the Opera Krakowska in 1958 in the title role of Moniu ...

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra Musical groups established in 1909 Polish orchestras Culture in Kraków Symphony orchestras Arts organizations established in 1909 1909 establishments in Austria-Hungary Organisations based in Kraków