"Work with no other orchestra has given me so much satisfaction, as conductor and soloist, as my collaboration with SINFONIA VARSOVIA."
Yehudi Menuhin
The beginnings of Sinfonia Varsovia can be traced to the activity of the Polish Chamber Orchestra. In April 1984, it invited Sir Yehudi Menuhin to appear in Poland both as soloist and conductor. To accommodate the planned repertoire the orchestra was expanded to forty musicians by inviting outstanding young talent from all over Poland. The concerts were such an overwhelming popular and critical success that the spontaneous idea of a permanent ensemble of 24 strings and a double wind section became a reality. So great was Sir Yehudi's interest in the new ensemble that he immediately signed a contract as the principal guest conductor of what was to become SINFONIA VARSOVIA. Soon afterwards the orchestra was invited for a concert tour in the United States and Canada. Other invitations followed from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Britain, Switzerland and Greece. In recent years, foreign tours have taken the orchestra to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Sinfonia Varsovia has performed in such prestigious venues as New York's Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, London's Barbican Centre, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and at festivals in Gstaad (Yehudi Menuhin Festival), Montreux, Schleswig-Holstein, Würzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, San Juan (Pablo Casals Festival), Frankfurt-am-Main (Alte Oper) and the Music on the Sea Festival.
Contributing to the orchestra's high artistic standards is the strict auditions-only system of selecting its members, as well as a well-developed continuous education scheme, ensuring a regular influx of young talent. Thanks to its almost unlimited repertoire, Sinfonia Varsovia has performed with many fine conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Gerd Albrecht, Charles Dutoit, Justus Frantz, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Hans Graf, Leopold Hager, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Emmanuel Krivine, Witold Lutosławski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Wojciech Michniewski, Grzegorz Nowak, Krzysztof Penderecki, Michel Plasson, Mstislav Rostropovich, Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach, Jerzy Semkow, Muhai Tang, Bruno Weil and Jose Cura. The long list of the world's most renowned soloists who have performed with Sinfonia Varsovia includes Salvatore Accardo, Maurice André, Martha Argerich, Teresa Berganza, Kyung-Wha Chung, Augustin Dumay, Justus Frantz, James Galway, Fou Ts'ong, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Kiri Te Kanawa, Nigel Kennedy, Gidon Kremer, Konsanty Andrzej Kulka, Alicia de Larrocha, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Christa Ludwig, Radu Lupu, Mischa Maisky, Shlomo Mintz, Oli Mustonen, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Janusz Olejniczak, Piotr Paleczny, Michala Petri, Murray Perahia, Maria Joao-Pires, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Samuel Ramey, Katia Ricciarelli, Mstislav Rostropovich, Heinrich Schiff, Henryk Szeryng, Maria Tipo, Alexis Weissenberg, Christian Zacharias, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Tabea Zimmermann and Grigorij Zhislin.
The orchestra has made numerous recordings for Pathé-Marconi, EMI, Virgin Classics, Decca, Denon Nippon Columbia, Aperto, Polskie Nagrania, IMG Records/Carlton Classics and CD Accord and has received prestigious awards for these discs such as the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d 'Or and the ‘Fryderyk ' Award of the Polish recording industry (1995,1996).
In 1996, to mark Lord Menuhin's 80th birthday, Sinfonia Varsovia recorded for IMG Records, under his baton, the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert. It also made several tours under Lord Menuhin, giving a total of 65 concerts in Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Brazil and the Republic of South Africa, and anticipated in several festivals, including those in Vienna (‘Klangbogen'), Strasbourg, Montpellier, Pollença Mallorca and Gstaad (Switzerland).
In 1997 Krzysztof Penderecki, who had been associated with the orchestra for many years, became its Musical Director, and from July 2003 its Artistic Director. They have since made many tours together, often performing his compositions, such as Sinfonietta per archi, Sinfonietta No.2, Concerto for flute, Concerto for viola (also in versions for cello and clarinet), Stabat Mater, De profundis, Credo, and Seven Gates of Jerusalem .
Under Krzysztof Penderecki Sinfonia Varsovia has recorded several CDs, including an all-Penderecki album.
Since 2001 world famous conductor Peter Csaba is Sinfonia Varsovia is
SINFONIA VARSOVIA is among the world's leading ensembles of its size. This is confirmed not only by excellent reviews from the most renowned critics but also by its permanent presence in the most prestigious venues around the world.
Sinfonia Varsovia acts under the aegis of the Stanisław I. Witkiewicz Arts Centre Studio in Warsaw.
Artistic Director - Krzysztof Penderecki
Orchestra Director - Janusz Marynowski