WARSAW PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

The Warsaw 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 middle ages to contemporary music. Each year the choir collaborates in some ten symphony and oratorio concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. These concerts constitute the most important part of its artistic activity. The choir also performs regularly at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and in Wrocław at the Wratislavia Cantans Festival. Polish music, in particular works of Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikołaj 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, the Polish Requiem, Passio secundum Lucam, Te Deum, Utrenja, Psalms of David, Dies irae, Veni Creator, Cheruwimska Piesn, St Luke Passion, Seven Gates of Jerusalem, and Credo, as well as his opera Paradise Lost. The choir performs not only in Warsaw but also in other Polish cities, and is also very active internationally, with appearances throughout Europe, as well as in Israel and in Turkey. In addition to performances with leading orchestras, the choir has also participated in opera at La Scala, Milan, La Fenice in Venice, and elsewhere. In 1988 and 1990 the choir was invited to the Vatican to take part in the celebrations of the successive anniversaries of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, with concerts televised 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. The choir recorded in 2009 the world’s only complete version of Moniuszko’s Seven Masses, awarded the Polish Fryderyk and French Orphées d’Or.

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Role: Choir
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