The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra was founded on the initiative of Maestro Jerzy Semkow. It was established by order of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage on 1 October 2007. The Orchestra’s mission is to bring together the most talented students and graduates of Poland’s musical academies under thirty years of age.
The Orchestra started its artistic activity in June 2008. Since that time, it has performed at numerous festivals in Poland and abroad. It has collaborated with eminent conductors, including John Axelrod, Kai Bumann, Charles Dutoit, José Maria Florêncio, Gabriel Chmura, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Grzegorz Nowak, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Krzysztof Penderecki, Rafael Payare, Jerzy Salwarowski, Tadeusz Strugała, George Tchitchinadze, Antoni Wit, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, and Maxim Vengerov, and soloists such as Yulianna Avdeeva, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Alena Baeva, François-René Duchâble, Lukas Geniušas, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Jakub Jakowicz, Alexander Kniazev, Andrei Korobeinikov, Bartosz Koziak, Ivan Monighetti, Janusz Olejniczak, Piotr Paleczny, Jadwiga Rappé, Jan Stanienda, Agata Szymczewska, and Tatiana Shebanova.
The orchestra has made numerous recordings for radio and television (including Polish Radio and TVP Kultura) and for the labels Universal Music, CD Accord, DUX, and Albany Records. The albums of symphonic music (Schubert and Tchaikovsky) recorded under the baton of Maestro Semkow take a special place in the orchestra’s discography. Working with Krzysztof Penderecki as conductor resulted in the release of his complete symphonies in his original interpretation (2012), for which the orchestra received the International Classical Music Award (2014).
Since April 2009, Sinfonia Iuventus has been a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras, and since November 2013, it has operated under an honorary artistic patronage of Krzysztof Penderecki. Anna Kościelna was appointed the orchestra’s director in September 2015.