In Wrocław’s cultural life, 2025 is a special year – we are celebrating not only the tenth anniversary of the National Forum of Music, but also the 80th anniversary of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. Its history is complicated and reflects the fate of its city. We invite you to join us in celebrating the anniversary of our symphony orchestra during two concerts, which were prepared in collaboration of the NFM with Wrocław Opera. 

The last months of World War II in Wrocław and the beginning of the post-war period were a time of dramatic events, but also the dawn of new hopes. On May 6, 1945, the besieged Festung Breslau fell. Earlier, the battle for the city claimed tens of thousands of victims, and the urban fabric itself was reduced to ruin. Five-year-old Christoph Eschenbach, the son of famous Wrocław musicians Margarethe and Heribert Ringmann, managed to escape the approaching front line. Neither of the boy's parents survived the war. Only fifty-four days after Wrocław was surrendered by the German crew, something unimaginable happened. Music returned to the capital of Lower Silesia. Already on  29 June 1945, a concert was organised in the Municipal Theatre – the current building of the Wrocław Opera – a ceremonial Academy on the occasion of the Sea Festival. The orchestra conducted by Stefan Syryłło played works by Fryderyk Chopin, Stanisław Moniuszko and Ignacy Jan Paderewski, as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Xaver Scharwenka. The event went down in history as the first post-war performance of the Wrocław Philharmonic.

In 1945, the Wrocław Opera venue was the centre of Wrocław’s cultural revival – concerts of the first line-up of the Wrocław Philharmonic took place here, as well as opera performances: on the initiative of Stanisław Drabik, the premiere of Stanisław Moniuszko's Halka was organised on 8 September 1945, and in December, The Barber of Seville was also staged three times. At the end of the year, the first performances of a drama theatre also took place in the building. The Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra played a dual role at the time, serving both as an opera and a symphony orchestra. An important episode in this initial period was the engagement of Stanisław Skrowaczewski as the orchestra’s associate conductor in the 1946/1947 season. However, when the Wrocław Opera was nationalised in 1949, the musicians limited themselves to performing only during opera performances. The symphony orchestra resumed its regular activity as early as 1954.

The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic is currently one of the most famous and awarded Polish orchestras. Since September 2024, the position of its artistic director has been held by Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, one of the most important pianists and conductors of recent decades. The orchestra regularly performs in the most important concert halls in Poland and internationally. In 2012, it toured the United States. The musicians played fourteen concerts under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk. In January and February 2020, it visited the US again, including Chicago, Nashville, Greenville, and Stanford. It was conducted by the then artistic director Giancarlo Guerrero, and the solo parts during the concerts were performed by Piotr Anderszewski, David Fray, Bomsori Kim, and Janusz Wawrowski. The orchestra has also performed in many places important for European music culture, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Tonhalle in Zurich, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Brucknerhaus in Linz, and the Frauenkirche in Dresden. In recent years, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic has also played in other cities in Austria and Germany, as well as in Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia, and Sweden.

An important part of the orchestra’s activity is the promotion of 20th and 21st century symphonic music and work with contemporary composers. The orchestra regularly performs works commissioned by the NFM, including by Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil, Elżbieta Sikora and Paweł Mykietyn. Albums recorded by the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic win prestigious awards from the phonographic industry. The album with Hector Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts, created under the direction of Paul McCreesh, was appreciated by BBC Music Magazine in 2012. The monthly awarded the publisher an award in the "Technical Excellence" category. In 2011, the album Witold Lutosławski. Opera omnia: Symphonies No. 2 and 4, recorded under the direction of Jacek Kaspszyk, received a Fryderyk in the Album of the Year - Symphonic and Concerto Music category. A year later, another recording from this series – Witold Lutosławski. Opera omnia: Preludes and Fugue for 13 String Instruments, Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Chamber Orchestra – was nominated for this award again. The album Paweł Mykietyn, recorded under the baton of Benjamin Shwartz and with the participation of Łukasz Długosz, was nominated in 2018 for a Fryderyk in the Album of the Year – Contemporary Music category. The album Arvo Pärt: The Symphonies, recorded under the baton of Tonu Kaljuste, was nominated for a Fryderyk in 2019 in the category Best Polish Album Abroad. This album won the prestigious International Classical Music Award in the Contemporary category, a Fryderyk in 2022 (Paweł Mykietyn – Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Symphony Orchestra, Hommage à Oskar Dawicki) and in 2025 (Karol Szymanowski), as well as other, numerous nominations. 

Eighty years later, we will again gather at the site of the first concert in the ruins – the Wrocław Opera, once a municipal theatre. The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, the heir to the musicians who performed in 1945, will play under the baton of maestro Christoph Eschenbach. During the concert, we will hear the Wrocław Opera Orchestra. Mirian Khukhunaishvili, who will take over the position of music director from the 2025/2026 artistic season, will also conduct. The works of Fryderyk Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko will be performed. The award-winning pianist Krzysztof Jabłoński will perform the Chopin. This will be a special afternoon, full of memories and pride in the presence of music presented by the greatest artists of the world’s stages in our city.

In the evening, we will gather at the NFM, where the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic will once again play under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. The artists will present Mieczysław Weinberg’s Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes, which reflects in its form the tragic history of World War II and the fate of refugees. The solo part will be performed by Radosław Pujanek, concertmaster of the Wrocław Philharmonic. On a lighter note, the concert will surely thrill you with two symphonic masterpieces by Maurice Ravel, composed in the interwar period and inspired by dance: Bolero and La Valse.