Sinfonia Baltica

The orchestra was established as part of the State Music Theater (Państwowego Teatru Muzycznego) in 1977 by conductor Grzegorz Nowak, and then, in 1980, it was transformed into the Chamber Orchestra (Orkiestrę Kameralną). From 1992, it operated as a chamber orchestra in the structures of the State Chamber Orchestra (Państwowej Orkiestry Kameralnej) and the Impresario Theater (Teatru Impresaryjnego) in Słupsk. In 2005, the institution was transformed into the Polish Philharmonic Sinfonia Baltica (Polską Filharmonię Sinfonia Baltica) in Słupsk. and then in 2017 under the full name "the Polish Philharmonic Sinfonia Baltica im. Wojciech Kilar" (Polską Filharmonię Sinfonia Baltica im. Wojciecha Kilara). Since its inception, it has been associated with the Polish Piano Festival (Festiwalem Pianistyki Polskiej), which has been held in Słupsk every year for 50 years, often taking part in premieres of works by Polish composers. The ensemble has had numerous premieres of works by Bogusław Schaeffer, Mikołaj Hertl, Piotr Moss, Norbert Mateusz Kuźnik, Grzegorz Pieńek and many others. For a couple of years, musicians have been collaborating with Krzesimir Dębski, performing his numerous compositions as world premieres. These include the Piano Concerto, the Two Stradivarius Concertos and the Nihil Homine Mirabilius symphony, which, over the last two years, they have recorded on CD as the first and only ensemble in Poland. The orchestra initiates and takes part in artistic events (cycles: Music of the Masters, Known and Unknown Chopin, Music Unites Nations, Ethnic Słupsk, Violin Summit - a concert of Polish violin soloists playing and many others). In 1999 and 2000, the Słupsk Orchestra performed Requiem For My Friend by Zbigniew Preisner, marking the second (after Warsaw) rendition of this piece in Poland. Later, in 2005, the Requiem was presented by soloists with the Orchestra in three concerts in the Netherlands, one of which took place in Concertgebouw, the Amsterdam concert hall. In October 2001, accompanied by the Greek songster George Dalaras, the chamber ensemble played a special concert in the Alte Oper (Frankfurt am Main) during the International Book Fair (Buchmesse). In recent years, the orchestra inaugurated the 3rd International Amber Baltic Music Festival in Międzyzdroje, accompanying pianists Kevin Kenner and Dina Yoffe. Polish Philharmonic Sinfonia Baltica im. Wojciech Kilar in Słupsk has recorded thirty CDs so far, including The Beatles Symphony Orchestra, which featured symphonic interpretations of songs by Lennon and McCartney (in Bohdan Jarmołowicz’s arrangement) and Can’t Buy Me Love with Vadim Brodski. The disc, released by the American label Centaur Records with rarely presented saxophone concerts performed by Greg Banaszak, brought the orchestra in 1998 a nomination for the Grammy Awards. Four years later, also for Centaur Records, the Philharmonic recorded pieces by contemporary American composers in flute and orchestra arrangements, with Katherine DeJongh as the soloist. For the DUX recording company, the orchestra cooperated with a pianist, Edward Wolanin, producing a CD of Chopin’s compositions in new, symphonic versions, in addition to those by George Gershwin and Astor Piazzolla. Soloists – Tomasz Tomaszewski – violin, and Wiesław Prządka – bandoneón, made their contribution to that album. With André Ochodlo, songster and Director of the “Atelier” theatre in Sopot, the orchestra recorded songs to lyrics by Itzig Manger, in Yiddish, and with an exquisitely rich arrangement by Jarmołowicz. This was the world’s first album of its type (presenting symphony music) devoted to Jewish music. In 2003 in Gdańsk, the orchestra performed Wojciech Kilar’s Missa Pro Pace (in the composer’s presence) and during an artistic event called Violin Summit – a concert with Polish violin artists, including Katarzyna Duda, Krzesimir Dębski, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka and Michał Urbaniak. The concert received the highest distinction of the Pomeranian Voivodeship – the Pomeranian Art Award Gryf 2003 in the category of “Artistic events”. In recent years, the musicians from Słupsk have been on tour with the French accordionist, Richard Galliano, visiting three cities – Gdańsk, Poznań and Kraków (2004). The tour yielded fruit in the form of a new album, this time devoted to the tango – Tango Forever. At the beginning of 2005, the orchestra toured Germany with the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, for which it provided accompaniment, performing Swan Lake and The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. In May 2005, Sinfonia Baltica took part in the Summer Festival in Belgian Sint-Truden, and a month later in the “Fermata” Piano Festival in Lublewo, performing at the side of pianist Cyprien Katsaris . The next, 2005/2006, season, initiated Sinfonia’s cooperation with the Kroke ensemble from Kraków. They played together during Music Connects Nations or A Symphonic Kroke in Gdańsk (two concerts – 2005 & 2007) and Bydgoszcz (2006). 2007 started with another CD containing tangos – Tango alla polacca – this time based on compositions by Władysław Szpilman and his arrangements for solo instruments (Wiesław Prządka – accordion, Tomasz Tomaszewski – violin, Filip Wojciechowski – piano) and a symphony orchestra. At the beginning of 2008, a DVD of Mozart's Requiem in D minor was released, recorded in late 2004 by soloists, the Słupsk orchestra and the Polish Chamber Choir Schola Cantorum Gedanensis (Polski Chór Kameralny Schola Cantorum Gedanensis). The concert, conducted by Jarmołowicz, was held during a night-time event in Gdańsk, on the anniversary of the composer’s death. The last recordings of the orchestra are recorded with jazz musicians. One of them contains works by Fryderyk Chopin in new, original arrangements, recorded in 2010 by the trio of pianist Filip Wojciechowski and the American trumpeter Gary Guthman. The second album, Poetic Jazz Symphonic, was recorded in 2015 by the orchestra and German musicians from the Lech Wieleba double bass quartet. It included compositions by the leader in the arrangement of Bohdan Jarmołowicz and the American Jerry Gates, who also conducted the orchestra. From 1992 to 2017, the director of the institution was the conductor, arranger and composer Bohdan Jarmołowicz. From January 1, 2018, conductor Ruben Silva is the director of the Philharmonic.