Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

Thanks to the prominent level of its achievements, the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has secured its participation in renowned international festivals and a leading position among ensembles of its kind in Poland, since its inception. It all began with a concert of Polish music on 26 May 1945. Since then, without closing itself off to any trend, it has presented contemporary music alongside the world’s symphonic literature. It has given numerous concerts at the half-century-old Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music and the oratorio and cantata Wratislavia Cantans festival. It also performs at festivals abroad, which it initiated three decades ago at the French Music Festival in La Chaise Dieu. Since 1958 and its first tours in what was then Czechoslovakia, the orchestra has toured throughout Europe. It has also promoted Polish culture outside our continent: in South Korea and Taiwan, as well as Japan, to which the ensemble has been invited for a sixth tour in 2020. The symphonists have given more than half a thousand concerts in 25 countries. Some of the most eminent artists – conductors and soloists – have given concerts with the orchestra, from Leopold Stokowski, Gennady Rozhdestvensky or Fou Ts’ong to Krystian Zimerman, Igor Oistrakh, Zachar Bron, Ida Haendel, Victoria de los Angeles or Montserrat Caballé. Yaroslav Shemet is the current Orchestra’s Artistic Director. Daniel Oren is the Guest Conductor of the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, while Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, the Orchestra’s previous Principal Conductor, whom the Philharmonic farewelled with a concert in June 2020, has taken up the post of Honorary Conductor.

(Photo: Karol Fatyga)