It was with the audience in mind that, 25 years ago, Sinfonia Varsovia’s founder Franciszek Wybrańczyk established the festival To Its City. His aim was to offer the Warsaw public a series of musical events featuring the orchestra – a group otherwise almost constantly on tour – in a variety of venues, often far from the obvious.
Wybrańczyk’s vision is not only continued but actively developed, as Sinfonia Varsovia becomes an increasingly regular presence in the capital. Before long, the orchestra will settle permanently in Warsaw’s Kamionek district, launching activities in the revitalised historic buildings at 272 Grochowska Street – and, within a few years, in a brand-new concert hall. Meanwhile, this year’s festival offers a rich line-up: seven orchestral concerts, a string project by the Sinfonia Varsovia Academy, and a free open-air performance by Sinfonia Varsovia Brass!
Sinfonia Varsovia’s musicians will perform alongside distinguished soloists such as soprano Bruno de Sá, violinist Yamen Saadi, violist Avri Levitan, horn player Yun Zeng, and pianists Marcin Masecki, Aleksander Dębicz and Hyuk Lee. They will be led by conductors including Marta Kluczyńska, Martin Rajna, Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, Jarosław Thiel, Andreas Wittmann and Ian Hobson – the latter also appearing as piano soloist.
Two special projects are planned for this year’s festival: Dreaming Warsaw and A Different Point of Hearing. The festival’s opening concert on 10 May will also inaugurate the new season at the refurbished Amphitheatre in Sowiński Park, located in Warsaw’s Wola district. The programme Dreaming Warsaw, featuring conductor Marta Kluczyńska, host Mariusz Szczygieł and no fewer than three outstanding pianists, will be dedicated to the city in the year marking the 80th anniversary of its postwar reconstruction. It will also serve as a prelude to the opera about Warsaw – The Best City in the World – commissioned by Sinfonia Varsovia and scheduled to premiere this autumn at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. The Wola concert will feature works composed in occupied Warsaw – pieces which, despite their origins, are marked by unexpected vitality and energy. This musical exuberance reflects the spirit with which a new Warsaw rose from the ruins after the war.
On 31 May and 1 June, audiences are invited to the Sinfonia Varsovia Concert Pavilion on Grochowska Street, where they will be able to enjoy favourite works from the orchestral repertoire while seated inside the orchestra itself. Since last year, Sinfonia Varsovia has offered its audience this unique opportunity through the format A Different Point of Hearing. The ensemble believes this immersive experience encourages a deeper appreciation of both the music and the musicians’ work. The concerts will be conducted by Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, with orchestra members Hanna Turonek and Olivia Bujnowicz-Wadowska offering insight into the inner workings of the ensemble.
On 9 June, also in the Kamionek district, Sinfonia Varsovia Brass will give an open-air, admission-free concert. The ensemble will perform in the courtyard of SWPS University – an institution bound to Sinfonia Varsovia not only by location, but also by a shared affection for Kamionek.
The remaining four concerts will take place in more traditional concert venues – the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, the Nowa Miodowa Hall in Mokotów, and the Auditorium of the Polish History Museum in Żoliborz. The common thread uniting these programmes is the orchestra as a “solo instrument”. Each concert will feature concertante works – such as the symphonia concertante, concerto for orchestra or Konzertstück – in which the orchestra plays a role equal to that of the soloists, or pieces in which individual orchestra members, as part of the ensemble’s fabric, come to the fore through their virtuosity.
The concert programme Orchestra Concertante on 22 May will feature two masterpieces of the concertante form: Bartók’s legendary Concerto for Orchestra – marking 80 years since the composer’s death – and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, performed by two outstanding soloists: Palestinian violinist and concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Yamen Saadi, and Israeli violist Avri Levitan.
On 12 June, the concert titled The Horns’ Call will be led by conductor and oboist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Andreas Wittmann, and will feature Schumann’s rarely performed Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra. Leading the group of Sinfonia Varsovia’s horn soloists will be Yun Zeng, principal horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
On 17 May, the concert titled Strings Ahead! will mark the close of the 13th season of the Sinfonia Varsovia Academy. The original meaning of the Italian word concertare – “to play together” – captures the essence of the nearly year-long collaboration between the Academy’s young instrumentalists and their orchestral mentors. Together, under the direction of concertmaster Adam Siebers, they will perform works including the Chamber Symphony No. 1 by the Warsaw-born Mieczysław Weinberg and Dvořák’s beloved Serenade for Strings.
A true festival gem will be the vocal recital by Brazilian male soprano Bruno de Sá on 6 June. Sinfonia Varsovia, performing in a smaller ensemble under the direction of Jarosław Thiel, will accompany this rising star of the international vocal scene in a programme drawn from his acclaimed album Mille affetti, featuring opera arias from the late 18th century.
The festival’s Closing Concert on 16 June will bring together the lush Romanticism of orchestral works by Moritz Moszkowski – marking the centenary of the composer’s death – with the light-hearted spirit of American music by Don Gillis and George Gershwin. The concert will be conducted by Ian Hobson, who also appears as piano soloist. A guest conductor of Sinfonia Varsovia and a tireless advocate for forgotten repertoire, Hobson has made numerous recordings with the orchestra over the years.
