Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

Today, the Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra is a group of over 90 outstanding musicians backed by 75 years of history. The ensemble was founded in 1948 and was one of the first symphony orchestras in the Western territories.

The orchestra has numerous successes to its credit. Over more than seven decades, the musicians have performed in countries such as Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and former Czechoslovakia, as well as in Germany, where they played in prestigious concert halls like Berlin's Konzerthaus and the Herbert von Karajan Hall in the Berlin Philharmonic. They have also been enthusiastically applauded multiple times by audiences at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.

Szczecin's Philharmonic musicians have performed with such distinguished soloists as Mischa Maisky, Krystian Zimmerman, Bomsori Kim, Alena Baeva, Branford Marsalis, Dina Yoffe, and Christian Tetzlaff, to name just a few. The ensemble can also boast collaborations with outstanding conductors, such as Antoni Wit, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Stefan Malzew, Jacek Kaspszyk, and Michał Nesterowicz. A close bond connected the Szczecin Philharmonic musicians with Krzysztof Penderecki, who personally conducted the orchestra during the performance of Polish Requiem (2005) at the Szczecin Shipyard Hall (the largest concert in the city's history) and Seven Gates of Jerusalem (2018).

The Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has made numerous recordings. The first album of the ensemble, recorded together with Tatiana Shebanova, Jarosław Drzewiecki, and Jerzy Salwarowski, was nominated for the Fryderyk award, as was the much later recorded album Coincidence with Paweł Tomaszewski's jazz suite. However, the most significant recording achievement of the ensemble is the albums featuring almost all the works of the orchestra's patron, Mieczysław Karłowicz, recorded with such excellent soloists as Bartłomiej Nizioł (Violin Concerto) and Małgorzata Walewska (songs), along with conductors Łukasz Borowicz and Rune Bergmann. In 2023, the Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture "Gloria Artis."