Director: Jurek Dybał
Honorary Guest Conductor: Rafael Payare
Sinfonietta Cracovia Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow is a high profile ensemble, which is famous for its precision and flexibility of a chamber orchestra also in the symphonic set.
The beginnings of the Sinfonietta Cracovia are closely related to the creation of the ensemble Young Kraków Chamber Musicians. Remarkable skills, musician’s engagement, and original interpretations resulted in being bestowed the status of a city orchestra and the new name in 1994: the Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Kraków Sinfonietta Cracovia, under which it has been operating until today. The ensemble is supported by Elżbieta and Krzysztof Penderecki.
The Sinfonietta has worked with a number of excellent artists from all over the world, among whom there are, e.g. Krzysztof Penderecki, Antoni Wit, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Rudolf Buchbinder, Gidon Kremer, Maxim Vengerov, Rafael Payare, Gábor Boldoczki, Ilya Gringolts, Mischa Maisky, Xavier de Maistre, Tabea Zimmermann, Grigorij Żyslin, Richard Galliano and others.
For 20 years, the image of the Orchestra was created by an outstanding violinist, violist, and teacher, Robert Kabara. In 2001-2009, its first visiting conductor was John Axelrod. In July 2014, the next chapter in the history of the ensemble has been started by an acclaimed conductor, musician of the Vienna Philharmonic, and animator of musical life, Jurek Dybał. Thanks to the new director’s efforts the Orchestra has engaged in a series of innovative projects promoting the new music and not only, gradually becoming one of the most dynamic European ensembles, particularly valued for its masterful performances of the contemporary music.
It is worth mentioning that the ensemble organizes original concert series such as the experimental Music without ovation or very popular Sinfonietka, dedicated to the youngest music lovers. Recently, the Orchestra has extended its concert activity, e.g., by increasing the number of performances abroad. The ensemble has given concerts in, e.g., China, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Vienna.
One of the most recent achievements of the Sinfonietta Cracovia has been the recording of the Polish premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s new Trumpet Concerto in the series of the world premieres with the participation of Gábor Boldoczki and the recording of the CD Oriental Trumpet Concertos (Sony Classical) in cooperation with the Hungarian trumpet player. In January 2017 the aforementioned album won the International Classical Music Award in the Contemporary category.
In April 2017 the Orchestra welcomed the brilliant, world-renowned Rafael Payare as its new Honorary Guest Conductor.
updated: 2018 (ac)
