General Director: Bogdan Tosza
Artistic Director: Charles Olivieri-Munroe
After WWII the Cracow Philharmonic was established as one of the firsts in Poland. The first concert of the symphony orchestra had place on 3 February 1945, soon mixed choir joined and was followed by the Boys' Choir. Having such broad executive opportunities, the Cracow Philharmonic's repertoire specialty were oratorios presented on a regular basis, often at monumental churches of Cracow and during numerous sacred music festivals abroad. Acting as Polish culture ambassador worldwide, the Cracow Philharmonic contributed particularly to performing works of Karol Szymanowski's – its patron since year 1962 and Krzysztof Penderecki's. The Cracow Philharmonic has marked its presence worldwide for more than 40 years. The Philharmonic ensembles were concerting in more than 30 countries-almost in all European countries as well as in Iran, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Lebanon, Turkey and the USA.
The Cracow Philharmonic Hall hosted the most excellent symphony orchestras including: Philadelphia Orchestra /Eugene Ormandy/, Cleveland Orchestra /George Szell/, Suisse Romande /Ernest Ansermet/, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion et Television Française /Manuel Rosenthal, Jean Martinom/, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra /William Steinberg/, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra /Zubin Mehta/, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra /Karel Ancerl, Vaclav Neumann/, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra /Evgeny Mravinsky/, Moscow Chamber Orchestra /Rudolph Barshai/, Virtuosi di Roma /Renato Fasano/, The Bach Ensemble /Joshua Rifkin/, Halle Orchestra Manchester /Stanisław Skrowaczewski/, Jean-Francois Paillard's Chamber Orchestra, Musica Antiqua Köln /Reinhard Goebel/. The concerts were conducted by the most prominent Polish conductors such as: Zygmunt Latoszewski, Bogdan Wodiczko, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Katlewicz, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Tadeusz Strugała, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antoni Wit and foreign conductors: Hermann Abendroth, Nikolay Anosov, Roberto Benzi, Roger Desormiere, Dean Dixon, Antal Dorati, Konstantin Ivanov, Paweł Klecki, Helmut Koch, Kirill Kondrashyn, Rafael Kubelik, Gilbert Levine, Jean Martinon, Vladimir Ponkin, John Pritchard, Helmuth Rilling, Jerzy Semkow, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Volker Wangenheim, Carlo Zecchi, Roland Bader.
The position of the Cracow Philharmonic is demonstrated by the number of performing soloists such as: Victoria de los Angeles, Claudio Arrau, Gina Bachauer, Arturo Benedetti - Michelangeli, Cathy Berberian, Stanisław Bunin, Shura Cherkassky, Zara Doluhanova, Dorothy Dorow, Annie Fischer, Emil Gilels, Sidney Harth, Gary Karr, Nigel Kennedy, Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer, Nikita Magaloff, Witold Małcużyński, Yehudi Menuhin, Midori, Schlomo Mintz, Tatiana Nikolayevna, Lev Oborin, Garrick Ohlsson, David and Igor Oistrakh, Vlado Perlemuter, Maurizio Pollini, Ruggiero Ricchi, Mstislav Rostropowicz, Sviatoslav Richter, Artur Rubinstein, Izaac Stern, Daniel Szafran, Henryk Szeryng, Narciso Yepes, Yo - Yo Ma, Teresa Żylis-Gara.
High artistic position of the K. Szymanowski’s Philharmonic nowadays is based on its intense concert and phonographic activity. Except for weekly symphony concerts, the Philharmonic offers serial events in historical halls of the city – University Concerts in the Collegium Novum Hall; masters recitals, organ recitals, concerts promoting music to the youth and children (series 'Musica – ars amanda'). It has a substantial role in reviving cultural life of Cracow – a city of great traditions.
The concert hall is home of the Symphony Orchestra, Mixed Choir, Boys' Choir, The Woodwind Quintet, Philharmonia Quintet, Cracow Horn Quartet, and Cracow Philharmonic String Quartet.
updated: 2020 (ac)
