The Sinfonia Varsovia is a Polish

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, ...

and musical institution based in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. The orchestra gives its concerts principally at its eponymous institution, located on Grochowska Street, Warsaw.

History

Waldemar Dąbrowski and Franciszek Wybrańczyk founded the orchestra in 1984 as an offshoot of the Polish Chamber Orchestra. Dąbrowski and Wybrańczyk invited

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. ...

to work with the orchestra, after Menuhin had guest-conducted the Polish Chamber Orchestra. in 1983. Menuhin subsequently became principal guest conductor of the orchestra. Menuhin and Sinfonia Varsovia subsequently recorded complete commercial cycles of the symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert.

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'', '' ...

became music director of the orchestra in 1997. He then took the title of artistic director of the orchestra in 2003, and held the post until his death in 2020. From 2008 to 2012,

Marc Minkowski Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was gene ...

was the orchestra's music director. With Minkowski, the orchestra recorded commercially for such labels as Naïve. In March 2022, the orchestra announced the appointment of Aleksandar Marković as its principal guest conductor, effective September 2022. The orchestra has commercially recorded for other labels such as Virgin Classics and NIFC, along with additional recordings for Naïve.

References

External links

Official Polish-language homepage of Sinfonia Varsovia

Official English-language homepage of Sinfonia Varsovia
{{Authority control Orchestras in Warsaw Symphony orchestras Yehudi Menuhin