The NFM Choir was founded in 2006 by Andrzej Kosendiak. Directed for its first 15 years by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, Lionel Sow became its Artistic Director in 2021.
The choir has a well-earned reputation for its work in various genres, performing a cappella pieces as well as large-scale oratorios, operas, and symphonic compositions. The choir has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Giovanni Antonini, Bob Chilcott, Iván Fischer, Jacek Kaspszyk, Stephen Layton, James MacMillan, Paul McCreesh, Zubin Mehta, Masaaki Suzuki, Kirill Petrenko, and Krzysztof Penderecki, performing more than 300 concerts, including at the Berliner Philharmonie, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall in London, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, as well as the Philharmonie de Paris and Salle Pleyel in Paris.
The NFM Choir is frequently invited to perform at international festivals suchas the BBC Proms, Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden, International Ankara Music Festival, Gent Festival van Vlaanderen,Klarafestival, Lucerne Festival, George Enescu Festival, and Warsaw Autumn. The choir has worked with, among others, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Il Giardino Armonico, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, Berliner Philharmoniker, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. At the core of the choir’s activity are world premieres of works by such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Agata Zubel, Roxanna Panufnik, Rafał Augustyn, Paweł Łukaszewski, Julia Wolfe, and Bob Chilcott.
The NFM Choir has made a series of award-winning recordings under the direction of Paul McCreesh issued by Winged Lion, and two discs of Bob Chilcott’s music: The Seeds of Stars and Canticles of Light, on Signum. In April 2024, the Łukasz Borowicz album, recorded with the choir, received a Fryderyk award in the Album of the Year – Oratorio and Opera Music category, and in June the choir’s latest recording was released – the first one on which the NFM Choir is conducted by Lionel Sow, entitled Dance of Death.
The most important events of the 2023/2024 artistic season included a concert tour with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico, a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards for the recording of Canticles of Light and two collaborations with Marin Alsop and NOSPR.