ICMA 2025 for Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra!

The only Polish ensemble, the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, has been awarded – already for the second time! – one of the most prestigious phonographic distinctions in the world, the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA)!

The ICMA jury recognised the album “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection” recorded by the Poznań ensemble under Łukasz Borowicz with the baritone Samuel Hasselhorn and the boys’ voices of The Poznań Nightingales, the Boys and Men’s Choir of the Poznań Philharmonic. Published last year by Harmonia Mundi, the album of songs and airs by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hans Pfitzner, Engelbert Humperdinck, Alban Berg and Walter Braunfels quickly garnered excellent reviews and international honours.

”This is a remarkable CD, not only because of Samuel Hasselhorn’s outstanding singing, grippingly dramatic and movingly sensitive throughout the programme, but also because of the conductor Łukasz Borowicz and the highly evocative “sound theatre” he gets from the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra. The symbiosis of voice and orchestra is just perfect”, said the jury in the verdict.

In the final stage of the competition, our orchestra’s recording competed in the category of Vocal Music with albums by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle with the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožena (“Czech Songs”), and by the French ensemble Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset with the baritone Michael Spyres (“In the Shadows”).

Holder of several nominations for the prize, the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded the trophy in 2018 for the album “Quo vadis” by Feliks Nowowiejski. This year’s accolade is the ensemble’s second.

The prize-giving ceremony and gala concert featuring the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker under Adam Fischer will be held at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf on 19 March 2025.