Warsaw Philharmonic Choir

The Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1952 by Zbigniew Soja and gave its first concert in May 1953, under the then artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Witold Rowicki. The present choirmaster Henryk Wojnarowski has held this position since 1978. In its wide repertoire the choir has more than 150 oratorios and choral works ranging from the medieval to the contemporary. Each year the choir collaborates in some ten symphony and oratorio concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the most important part of its artistic activity. The choir also performs regularly at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and in Wroclaw at the Wratislavia Cantans Festival. Many of these concerts have been recorded. Polish music, in particular works of Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikolaj Górecki and Wojciech Kilar, is a very important part of the choir’s repertoire. The choir has performed all Penderecki’s oratorios and a cappella works, as well as his opera Paradise Lost. The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir is also very active internationally, appearing throughout Europe and beyond. There have been collaborations with the most renowned orchestras, and participation in operas at La Scala, Milan, La Fenice, and in other major houses. In 1988 and 1990 the choir was invited to the Vatican to take part in celebrations of the successive anniversaries of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, concerts that were televised and broadcast throughout Europe. In December 2001 the choir, together with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, performed for John Paul II once again in a special concert commemorating the centenary of the Warsaw Philharmonic, this time presenting the Missa pro pace by Wojciech Kilar. Among the conductors who have performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir have been Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Semkow, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Krzysztof Penderecki, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Leopold Stokowski, Gary Bertini, Sergiu Comissiona, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Igor Stravinsky and, of course, Antoni Wit who is the Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Orchestra and Choir of Poland.