Krzysztof Urbański conducts Szymanowski, Bacewicz, and Kilar — With Nicolas Altstaedt

The renowned Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 2026-27 season with a celebration of some of Poland's greatest 20th-century composers, joined by star cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and led by Music and Artistic Director Krzysztof Urbański, who "combines a masterful precision of detail with a command of the broader expanse of even the most challenging repertoire" (San Francisco Chronicle). The program begins with two sacred music favorites by Karol Szymanowski, the Veni Creator (1930) and Stabat Mater (1925 – 26). Composed on Polish translations of the Latin texts and incorporating Polish folk melodies and rhythms, these two exultant choral works spotlight the talents of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and a sterling lineup of soloists. Altstaedt takes the solo role in the kaleidoscopic Cello Concerto No. 2 by Grażyna Bacewicz; representative of the sonoristic style that characterized much mid-century Polish music, this concerto puts forth new and innovative timbral and textural approaches while remaining melodic and pleasing to the ear. Wojciech Kilar's symphonic poem Krzesany (1974) closes the evening with vivid, cinematic washes of orchestral color, marking the composer's return to folk sources after a period of avant-garde output: "I realized," Kilar said, "that the search for new, shocking sound sources had been exhausted. I decided that it could be a shock, too, to allude to something which had been deemed a closed chapter."