User:Marek Gudowski/sandbox/The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir

= The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir =

The ensemble began its professional artistic activity in 1953 under the direction of Zbigniew Soja. Subsequent directors were Roman Kuklewicz (1955-71), Józef Bok (1971-74), Antoni Szaliński (1974-78), and Henryk Wojnarowski (1978-2016). In January 2017, Bartosz Michałowski took over the direction.

Stages and performances
The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir conducts intensive artistic activity on the international arena. It has given concerts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Israel, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. It has been invited by such orchestras as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Muncher Philharmoniker, Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, RIAS Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, symphony orchestras in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

The Choir’s first appearance on an opera stage brought further invitations to opera houses: La Scala (Weber’s Oberon, 1989; Beethoven’s Fidelio, 1990), La Fenice in Venice (Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, 1986; Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, 1987), Paris (Beethoven’s Fidelio, 1989); Palermo (Szymanowski’s King Roger, 1992; Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, 1993; Honegger’s Antigone, 1993), and Pesaro (Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, 1994). In 1988, 1990 and 2001, the Choir sang in gala concerts organised for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Conductors
The Choir has been conducted by such outstanding Polish and international masters of the baton and composers as Moshe Atzmon, Gary Bertini, Andrzej Boreyko, Sergiu Comissiona, Henryk Czyż, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Sir Charles Groves, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Helmut Koch, Witold Lutosławski, Lorin Maazel, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Igor Markevitch, Andrzej Markowski, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Grzegorz Nowak, Seiji Ozawa, Krzysztof Penderecki, Zoltán Peskó, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Wolfgang Rennert, Ljubomir Romansky, Witold Rowick i, Hanns-Martin Schneidt, Jerzy Semkow, David Shallon, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Tadeusz Strugała, Stanisław Wisłocki, Antoni Wit and Bohdan Wodiczko.

Repertoire
The vast repertoire of the Choir includes over 400 oratorio and a cappella works from various eras, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Polish music, especially the works of Krzysztof Penderecki, has a special place in it.

Awards
2020 - Fryderyk for the recording of the operaHagith (with the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by Michał Klauza).

2018 - Fryderyk for the album with Litany to the Virgin Mary, Stabat Materi Symphony No. 3 „Song of the Night” (with the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jacek Kasprzyk).

2017 - Grammy in the Best Choral Performance category for the album „Penderecki conducts Penderecki” series (Dies illa, Psalms of David and Hymns to St. Danilo and St. Adalbert).

2011 - Fryderyk for the 1989 recording of Requiem. Missa pro defunctis by Roman Maciejewski.

2010 - „Golden Orpheus” of the French Academie du Disque Lyrique in the category „Best Phonographic Initiative” for the promotion of the works of Stanislaw Moniuszko.

2009 - Fryderyk in the category Album of the Year - Choral and Oratorio Music for the album of the year with Stanisław Moniuszko's masses (DUX).

2005 - Record Academy Award (awarded by the Japanese magazine „Record Geijutsu”).