Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra
Phot. Zbigniew Sejwa
Founded and managed by Piotr Borkowski, the orchestra began its operation in May 2011, together with the inauguration of Centrum Edukacji Artystycznej, Filharmonia Gorzowska (Centre for Artistic Education, Gorzów Philharmonic). This international ensemble is made up of young, talented and versatile musicians from Poland, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Japan and South Korea. Ever since its impressive inception, the orchestra has been performing very varied repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary music.
In the year of its existence, the GPO has been able to attract a number of world-famous artists. The ensemble has played under the baton of one of the most outstanding contemporary artists, Maxim Vengerov, and besides Piotr Borkowski, its artistic director, has collaborated with such conductors, as Maciej Żółtowski, Krzesimir Dębski, Bernard Chmielarz, Tomasz Bugaj, Maciej Niesiołowski and Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski. The list of artists to have collaborated with the orchestra contains the names of Elena Nogaeva, Tomasz Strahl, Lilianna Stawarz, Agata Szymczewska, Ilya Rashkovskyi, Guido Heinke, Fabio Bidini and Zvi Carmeli. The GPO’s most notable concert performances include Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (concert debut with the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester from Frankfurt/Oder), concert of Baroque music, incl. Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with guest performance by the Swedish violinist and conductor Katarina Andreasson, concert with graduate students of the Gorzów School of Music, as well as joint performance with Michał Wróblewski Quartet in “Jazz i Orkiestra” project. The Opera Gala featured world-famous soloists: Małgorzata Walewska (mezzo-soprano), Katarzyna Trylnik (soprano) and Jacek Laszczkowski (tenor). The Orchestra’s immediate plans include performances with such illustrious musicians, as Sergio Sorrentino, Ivan Monighetti or Arto Noras. In the 2011/12 season, the Orchestra also took part in two international festivals: the Gorzów Easter Festival, part of the 16th edition of Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival (Artistic Director: Elżbieta Penderecka), and “Laboratorium” Contemporary Music Festival (Artistic Director: Marian Borkowski), where it performed with the outstanding jazz pianist Adam Makowicz.
One of the key events of the season was the recording of a CD with Soyoung Yoon, winner of last year’s edition of Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition, who also performed with the ensemble in November in a concert conducted by Maxim Vengerov. Plans for next season include recordings for Naxos (compositions by Jeajoon Ryu, the Resident Composer at CEA-FG), and Centaur (Charlie Parker’s jazz standards performed by the American saxophone player Greg Banaszak).
Tomasz Tomaszewski, the first concertmaster of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, founder and conductor of the Kammersolisten der Deutschen Oper Berlin, and lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, as well as Piotr Prysiażnik, violinist of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and the Berlin Polish Quartet, are the concertmasters of the Gorzów Philharmonic’s Chamber Orchestra.
