The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra has a history dating back to the pre-war years. In 1945, the orchestra was placed under the directorship of Stefan Rachoń, and his successors have included Włodzimierz Kamirski, Jan Pruszak, Mieczysław Nowakowski, Tadeusz Strugała (during his tenure the ensemble was given its present name and moved to its new seat – the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio), Wojciech Rajski, and Łukasz Borowicz. Since February 2015, the position of Artistic Director has been held by Michał Klauza.
Since the Orchestra made its debut at the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in 2008 it has performed a series of concert versions of less-known operas, such as Cherubini’s Lodoïska (2008), Spohr’s Berggeist (2009), Weber’s Euryanthe (2010), Donizetti’s Maria Padilla (2011), Italo Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre re (2012), the original version of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra (2013), and Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris (2014). These performances have been released on CDs.
The ensemble’s recordings of Panufnik’s works, conducted by Łukasz Borowicz and available in a 4 CD collection on the cpo label was the recipient of the International Classical Music Award for 2015. Its albums featuring outstanding Polish singers – Piotr Beczała (Orfeo), Mariusz Kwiecień (harmonia mundi), and Artur Ruciński (Polskie Radio) – are available on the market.
Under its new director, the Polish Radio Orchestra pursues the same practice as before, performing and recording forgotten works, especially those by Polish composers. Its Sunday concerts at the Witold Lutosławski Studio have been conducted by Poland’s most outstanding composers, including Jerzy Maksymiuk, Antoni Wit, Marek Pijarowski, and José Maria Florêncio.
