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Good run in French media continues. Click Musique!, the French magazine dedicated to classical and jazz music, publishes in its September issue a review of the album “Darius Milhaud, Salade op. 83 / Le pauvre matelot op. 92” recorded by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz at a concert of the “Unknown Operas” series which was held at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw during 28th Easter Ludwig van Beethoven Festival. And just like the ensemble’s album “Grzegorz Fitelberg, Symfonia e-moll op. 16” also recorded with Łukasz Borowicz, which was given the Sélection ClicMag! recommendation in July, this release, too, has been awarded the distinction.
The renowned French music critic Jean-Charles Hoffelé writes about the recording:
“It is difficult to find in Darius Milhaud’s rarely recorded operatic oeuvre two more disparate works than the colourful, even tangy fantasy Salad, and the tragic, ornament-free opera Le pauvre matelot with Jean Cocteau’s libretto so excellent as to inspire the author of Bolivar to create a poignant drama. Milhaud held this three-act opera in such esteem that he recorded it himself. Well aware of that, Łukasz Borowicz does not try to emulate the bitterness of that historic recording.
Instead, what he offers is a somewhat detached attitude that provides Cocteau’s text with enough space to resonate with all its ambiguities; at the same time, Borowicz poetically renders the murderer’s dilemmas and the changing atmosphere at the bar. Singers very meticulously elaborated their French parts, and Krystian Krzeszowiak’s Matelot may appear even more convincing than the sharper-voiced Jean Giraudeau’s.
The Provençal-hue-spiced grotesque Salade is unrivalled: the ballet is conducted ebulliently, while “furniture music” of the entries and short instrumental interludes is contrasted with fragments spoken and sung by a commedia-dell’arte-like troupe led in a furious tempo by Mateusz Zajdel’s Pulcinella; this is what ultimately makes the album exceptional.
And if Łukasz Borowicz and his excellent troupe were to reach for Esther de Carpentras tomorrow?”
Darius Milhaud
Salade, Op. 83 – ballet chanté in 2 acts
Le pauvre matelot, Op. 92 – opera in 3 acts
Magdalena LUCJAN – soprano
Natalia RUBIŚ – soprano
Krystian Adam KRZESZOWIAK – tenor
Krzysztof LACHMAN – tenor
Mateusz ZAJDEL – tenor
Robert GIERLACH – baritone
Adrian JANUS – baritone
Wojciech GIERLACH – bass
Łukasz BOROWICZ – conductor
Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra
Ladies and Gentlemen,
we wish to inform you that the box office of the Poznań Philharmonic opens on 1 September (A. Mickiewicz University Auditorium, 1, Wieniawskiego st., entrance hallway).
In 2025/2026 artistic season, the box office operates:
- September: Monday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- October-June: Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- days of concerts organised by Poznań Philharmonic at University Auditorium: box office opens one hour prior to concert and closes at end of intermission.
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Reserved DL and SG season tickets can be purchased between 1 September and 30 September.
Reserved KP season tickets can be purchased between 8 September and 19 September.
Reserved MW season tickets can be purchased between 1 October and 31 October.
Holders of 2024/2025 electronic tickets are requested to carry these while purchasing 2025-2026 season tickets.
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Individual ticket sales at Philharmonic box office, online ticket sales, as well as sales of tickets at Centrum Informacji Kulturalnej (Culture Information Centre, 44, Ratajczaka st.) commence on 1 October.
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Individual ticket reservations, as well as enquiries regarding the new season can be made by mail at: rezerwacje@filharmoniapoznanska.pl, or by phone: (+48) 61 415 63 37; (+48) 61 852 22 66.
In September, we shall remain at your disposal in University Auditorium hallway at box office opening times. However, with regard to reservations only, you are requested to contact us remotely (by mail or by phone).
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Poznań Philharmonic reserves the right to change the above schedule of season and individual ticket sales, as well as to alter the calendar of concerts.
Click Musique!, the French magazine dedicated to classical and jazz music, publishes in its July-August edition a review of the album “Grzegorz Fitelberg, Symfonia e-moll op. 16” (Grzegorz Fitelberg, Symphony in E minor, Op. 16) recorded by Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz. The well-known French critic Jean-Charles Hofelé writes about the recording awarded the Sélection ClicMag! distinction:
“Shall Grzegorz Fitelberg forever remain forgotten amongst the composers of the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) movement? His illustrious conducting career – to a large degree concentrated on advocating and promoting works by Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz – pushed Fitelberg-composer into oblivion. The discovery of his 1904 Symphony, and its first-ever recording made by Łukasz Borowicz and his Poznań-based ensemble [Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra] will unquestionably change this situation. Clearly inspired by Richard Strauss, the masterly orchestration of this voluminous score of fulgent architecture puts the orchestra in the spotlight. The symphony is testimony to mature artistic inventiveness, which produces in the Andante a motif of profound beauty.
Standing at the very turning point of different epochs, the work’s dark keys appear to harbinger Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 2. In the wake of the idiosyncrasies of the Mahler-redolent Scherzo (Fitelberg being an ardent proponent of the author of Song of the Earth), the captivating, feverish final part ushers in a charming post-Romantic quality. And all this without falling into epigonism.
Łukasz Borowicz is renowned for the consistency with which he carries out his projects; without a doubt, he going to discover for us the Violin Concerto, “Spring”, the Rhapsodies, and Symphony No. 2.”
1. Box office of Poznań Philharmonic reopens after summer break on 1 September 2025.
In 2025/2026 artistic season, the box office operates:
- September: Monday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- October-June: Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- days of concerts organised by Poznań Philharmonic at University Auditorium: box office opens one hour prior to concert and closes at end of intermission.
2. Reserved DL and SG season tickets can be purchased as at 1 September.
3. Reserved KP season tickets can be purchased as at 8 September.
4. Reserved MW season tickets can be purchased as at 29 September.
5. Individual ticket sales at Philharmonic box office, online ticket sales, as well as sales of tickets at Centrum Informacji Kulturalnej (Culture Information Centre, 44, Ratajczaka st.) commence on 1 October.
6. Holders of 2024/2025 electronic tickets are requested to carry these while purchasing 2025-2026 season tickets.
7. Individual ticket reservations, as well as enquiries regarding the new season can be made by mail at: rezerwacje@filharmoniapoznanska.pl, or by phone: (+48) 61 415 63 37; (+48) 61 852 22 66. In September, we shall remain at your disposal in University Auditorium hallway at box office opening times. However, with regard to reservations only, you are requested to contact us remotely (by mail or by phone).
8. Poznań Philharmonic reserves the right to change the above schedule of season and individual ticket sales, as well as to alter the calendar of concerts.
During summer break (30 June – 31 August 2025), the box office will be CLOSED.
Box office reopens on Monday, 1 September 2025.
In 2025/2026 artistic season, the box office operates:
- September: Monday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- October-June: Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.,
- days of concerts organised by Poznań Philharmonic at University Auditorium: box office opens one hour prior to concert and closes at end of intermission.
We inform that the ticket office of Poznan Philharmonic will be closed from the 17th of April till the 21st of April as well as the 1st of May till 5th of May.
We encourage you to purchase the tickets online.
Like every year, in the 2025/26 artistic season Poznań Philharmonic is planning to prepare for you musical evenings within the DE LUXE (DL), STAR ZONE (SG) and POZNAŃ CONCERTS (KP) season tickets.
If you are interested in the purchase of season tickets for these concerts, please fill in the or-der form below and submit it in the ticket office of Poznań Philharmonic until the 27th of June 2025.
The estimated date of the collection of the tickets is September 2025. The details will be given later – please track the information on our website www.filharmoniapoznanska.pl.
Print the order form for DL | SG | KP season tickets (season 2025/26)
Nobody expected this! As many as TWO ICMA prizes awarded to the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra for the album “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection” are on their way from Düsseldorf to Poznań.
When this year’s winners of one of the most prestigious phonographic prizes in the world, the International Classical Music Award (ICMA), were announced in January, we were immensely glad to learn that the album “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection” recorded by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra 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, received the distinction in the Vocal Music category.
Only today, on 19 March, during the prize-giving ceremony held at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, did we learn that the special Recording of the Year prize also went to the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra for the album “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection”.
Wojciech Nentwig, Director of the Poznań Philharmonic, Łukasz Borowicz, principal conductor of the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the Poznań Philharmonic, Samuel Hasselhorn, baritone, and Jean-Marc Berns who represented Harmonia Mundi label, were visibly surprised, though no less satisfied when collecting the 2025 ICMA for the album “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection”.
Not only is the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra the sole Polish ensemble to have won two ICMA statuettes (the first was awarded for the 2018 album “Quo vadis” by Feliks Nowowiejski), but also one to have garnered the prize simultaneously in two different categories.
Published last year by Harmonia Mundi, the album “Urlicht” features songs and arias by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hans Pfitzner, Engelbert Humperdinck, Alban Berg and Walter Braunfels. In the verdict, the ICMA jury stated: 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.
The Gala Concert, which added splendour to ICMA 2025 award-presenting ceremony at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, featured prize-winners perform with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker (itself winner of the 2025 ICMA in the Special Achievement category) conducted, among others, by Adam Fischer (the ensemble’s Music Director) and Vitali Alekseenok (Music Director of Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf). One of the pieces delivered on the night was the song “Revelge” by Gustav Mahler performed by Samuel Hasselhorn with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker under Łukasz Borowicz.
“Record-wise”, 2024 was a very productive year for Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra: music market saw the ensemble release as many as five albums, two of which were additionally pressed in vinyl versions.
The album to have attracted most attention was “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection”, which in January 2025 was honoured with one of the most prestigious music prizes in the world, the International Classical Music Award (ICMA 2025). It was the second time Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra garnered the great trophy: in 2018, the album Quo vadis by Feliks Nowowiejski was also recognised with an ICMA. Furthermore, one also has to mention the several nominations held by the ensemble. Conducted by Łukasz Borowicz, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra recorded “Urlicht” with Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone) and the boys’ voices of The Poznań Nightingales, the Boys and Men’s Choir of Poznań Philharmonic. The album was published by the record company Harmonia Mundi.
Released in two versions, as CD and limited-edition collector LP, “Symphony in F Major, Op. 14 Polonia” by Emil Młynarski (Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor) was published by DUX. As Łukasz Borowicz writes in the album booklet, the recording was inspired by a desire to promote one of the most interesting symphonies of its time, an apex achievement (side by side with Karol Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 2) of the post-Romantic vein in Polish music, and, simultaneously, one to complement the picture of the early-20th century Polish symphonic music. The concert recording and publication of Polonia was made with financial assistance from Culture Promotion Fund, a state earmarked fund of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, under “Musical Trace” programme operated by the National Institute for Music and Dance.
For many years Poznań Philharmonic has been promoting works by Franz Xaver Scharwenka, the composer born to a Polish-German family in Szamotuły. Not only are his pieces performed at philharmonic concerts, but also find their way to records. The newest, “Franz Xaver Scharwenka, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 32; Symphony in C Minor, Op. 60” (Jonathan Powell – piano, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) was published by cpo, just months before the centenary of the composer’s death, which was marked on 8 December 2024. The album cover features reproduction of Wojciech Weiss’ painting Pocałunek na trawie, or Kiss on the Grass, from the collection of the National Museum in Poznań, which kindly made it available to Poznań Philharmonic.
Kompozycja abstrakcyjna, or Abstract Composition, by another Polish painter, Władysław Strzemiński, which has kindly been shared with us by the Museum of Art in Łódź, decorates the cover of the CD and LP of Andrzej Panufnik’s works. Published by RecArt, the concert recording “Andrzej Panufnik, Nocturne / Fantasia” (Clare Hammond – piano, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) contains the Polish premiere performance of the latter piece.
Recorded at the 28th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the concert album “Darius Milhaud, Salade, Op. 83 / Le pauvre matelot, Op. 92” (Magdalena Lucjan – soprano, Natalia Rubiś – soprano, Krystian Krzeszowiak – tenor, Krzysztof Lachman – tenor, Mateusz Zajdel – tenor, Robert Gierlach – baritone, Adrian Janus – baritone, Wojciech Gierlach – bass, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) was the last release of 2024. Developed in collaboration with Stowarzyszenie im. Ludwiga van Beethovena (Ludwig van Beethoven Association) and published by DUX, the album contains the concert performance of yet another opera presented by Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz within the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival’s “Nieznane opery”, or “Unknown Operas” cycle.
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.