Jerzy Semkow Sinfonia Iuventus Polish Orchestra
The Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus was founded on the initiative of Jerzy Semkow, one of Poland's most outstanding conductors. Established by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage pursuant to a regulation of October 1, 2007, it is a state cultural institution. Its main purpose is to provide young musicians with the opportunity for orchestral debuts and to prepare them for work in similar professional ensembles. The Orchestra consists of the most talented graduates of music academies who are under 30 years of age.
The Orchestra began its artistic activity in June 2008. It has collaborated with many acclaimed conductors, such as: Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gabriel Chmura, Antoni Wit, Tadeusz Strugała, John Axelrod, Charles Dutoit, Agnieszka Duczmal, Nicolae Moldoveanu, Juozas Domarkas, Grzegorz Nowak, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Mikhail Jurowski, Kirill Karabits, Tadeusz Kozłowski, Andrey Boreyko, Marek Pijarowski, Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Jerzy Salwarowski, George Tchitchinadze, Evgeny Volynsky, Gerd Schaller, Eugene Tzigane, Massimiliano Caldi, Andriy Yurkevych, Ruben Silva, Paweł Przytocki, Paul Esswood, Piotr Sułkowski, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Monika Wolińska, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Łukasz Borowicz, Marek Moś, Krzysztof Herdzin, Marek Wroniszewski, and soloists including Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Piotr Paleczny, Ivan Monighetti, Zakhar Bron, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Daniel Stabrawa, Paweł Kowalski, Aleksandra Kurzak, Roman Lasocki, Roberto Alagna, Tatiana Shebanova, Janusz Olejniczak, Jonathan Plowright, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Eugen Indjic, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Olga Pasiecznik, Jadwiga Rappé, Vadim Repin, Jan Stanienda, Tomasz Strahl, Jakub Haufa, Łukasz Długosz, Alena Baeva, Leszek Możdżer, Yulianna Avdeeva, Bomsori Kim, Agata Szymczewska, Jakub Jakowicz, Piotr Pławner, Patrycja Piekutowska, Łukasz Kuropaczewski, José Torres, Adam Bałdych, Mateusz Smoczyński, Hyuk Lee, Rafał Bartmiński, Iwona Hossa, Piotr Nowacki, Olga Szomańska, Patric Gallois, Michael Lethiec, Claudio Bohorquez, Stathis Karapanos, and Alicja Śmietana.
The Orchestra has completed numerous recordings for CDs, radio, and television for Universal Music, CD Accord, DUX, Polish Radio, Albany Records, TVP Kultura, and Warner Classics. A special place in the Orchestra's discography is held by two recordings of symphonic repertoire: Schubert (2008) and Tchaikovsky (2010), recorded under the baton of Jerzy Semkow. Albums featuring Krzysztof Penderecki's music under his direction also hold an important position – the complete symphonies (2010-2012) and albums with solo concertos (2014-2019). Selected releases from this series have been honored with distinctions, including the International Classical Music Award (2014 and 2016) and the Fryderyk music award in the Album of the Year – Concerto Music category (2021). The repertoire recorded by the Orchestra also includes music by many other Polish composers, including: Fryderyk Chopin, Grażyna Bacewicz, Zygmunt Stojowski, Józef Koffler, Karol Kurpiński, Roman Palester, Henryk Wieniawski, Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Meyer, Stanisław Moryto, Roman Statkowski, Antoni Szałowski, and Piotr Moss.
Sinfonia Iuventus has performed on many concert stages and at numerous festivals in Poland and abroad: in Austria (Musikverein), China (National Grand Theater), France (Grand Auditorium UNESCO, Palais de la Musique et des Congrès), Spain (Auditorio Nacional de Música), Germany (Konzerthaus Berlin Gendarmenmarkt), Portugal (Grande Auditório), Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania, and Ukraine.
Since April 2009, the Orchestra has been a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras, and since September 2018 – a member of the Association of Polish Philharmonics. Between 2013-2020, Krzysztof Penderecki was the honorary artistic patron of the orchestra. In October 2018, the Orchestra officially adopted the name of Jerzy Semkow.
More information on the Orchestra's website: www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl
We have a great pleasure to present here two recordings produced with the Jerzy Semkow Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus :