The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra was founded on the initiative of Jerzy Semkow, one of the most
prominent Polish conductors. Established by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage with
a decree of 1 October 2007, it is a state artistic institution, the guiding principle of which is to give
young musicians an opportunity for an orchestral debut and prepare them to work in similar
professional ensembles. The Orchestra is composed of the most talented graduates of art music
academies under 30 years of age.
Sinfonia Iuventus began its artistic activity in June 2008. It has worked with many renowned
conductors, including Jerzy Semkow, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gabriel Chmura,
Antoni Wit, Tadeusz Strugała, John Axelrod, Charles Dutoit, Agnieszka Duczmal, Nicolae Moldoveanu,
Juozas Domarkas, Grzegorz Nowak, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Michaił Jurowski, Kirył Karabits, Tadeusz
Kozłowski, Andrzej Boreyko, Marek Pijarowski, Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Jerzy Salwarowski, George
Tchitchinadze, Evgeny Volynsky, Gerd Schaller, Eugene Tzigane, Massimiliano Caldi, Andriy Yurkevych,
Ruben Silva, Paweł Przytocki, Paul Esswood, Piotr Sułkowski, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Jerzy Swoboda,
Monika Wolińska, Wojciech Rodek, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Łukasz Borowicz, Marek Moś,
Krzysztof Herdzin, Marek Wroniszewski, Johannes Wildner, Juya Shin, Alexandr Iradyan, Susanna
Mälkki, Michał Klauza, Norbert Twórczyński, Maciej Tworek, Joanna Natalia Ślusarczyk, Julian Gilewski,
Mirian Khukhunaishvili and soloists, including Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Piotr Paleczny, Ivan
Monighetti, Zakhar Bron, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Daniel Stabrawa, Paweł Kowalski, Aleksandra Kurzak,
Roman Lasocki, Roberto Alagna, Tatiana Szebanowa, Janusz Olejniczak, Jonathan Plowright, Abdel
Rahman El Bacha, Eugen Indjic, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Olga Pasiecznik, Jadwiga Rappé, Vadim Repin, Jan
Stanienda, Tomasz Strahl, Jakub Haufa, Łukasz Długosz, Alena Baeva, Leszek Możdżer, Yulianna
Avdeeva, Bomsori Kim, Agata Szymczewska, Jakub Jakowicz, Piotr Pławner, Patrycja Piekutowska,
Łukasz Kuropaczewski, José Torres, Adam Bałdych, Mateusz Smoczyński, Hyuk Lee, Rafał Bartmiński,
Iwona Hossa, Piotr Nowacki, Olga Szomańska, Patric Gallois, Michael Lethiec, Claudio Bohorquez,
Stathis Karapanos, Alicja Śmietana, Jakub Waszczeniuk, Małgorzata Walewska, Heidi Stober,
Aleksandra Świgut, Piotr Orzechowski, Seina Matsuoka to mention just the few of them.
The Orchestra has made a number of albums, radio and television recordings for Universal Music, CD
Accord, DUX, Polish Radio, Albany Records, TVP Kultura and Warner Classics. A special place in the
Orchestra’s discography belongs to two albums with a symphonic repertoire: Schubert (2008) and
Czajkowski (2010), recorded under the baton of Jerzy Semkow. An important position is also occupied
by albums with music by Krzysztof Penderecki under his direction – the complete symphonies (2010–
2012) and albums with solo concerts (2014–2023). Selected recordings in the series have been
honoured, including the International Classical Music Award (2014 and 2016), Fryderyk Award in
Concerto Music Album category (2021). In its repertoire recorded by the Orchestra on the CD’s there
is a big number of pieces of the Polish music composed by the Polish composers including Frederic
Chopin, Grażyna Bacewicz, Zygmunt Stojowski, Józef Koffler, Karol Kurpiński, Roman Palester, Henryk
Wieniawski, Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Meyer, Stanisław Moryto, Roman Statkowski, Antoni Szałowski,
Piotr Moss.
The Orchestra has performed on many concert stages and at numerous festivals in Poland and abroad:
in Austria (Musikverein), China (National Grand Theatre), France (Grand Auditorium UNESCO, Palais
de la Musique et des Congrès), Spain (Auditorio Nacional de Música), Germany (Konzerthaus), Portugal
(Grande Auditório), Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania and Ukraine.
Since April 2009, the Orchestra has been a member of the European Federation of National Youth
Orchestras, and since September 2018, the Polish Philharmonic Association. In 2013-2020 Krzysztof
Penderecki was a honorary artistic patron of the Orchestra. In October 2018 Orchestra officially
adopted the name of Jerzy Semkow.