New Jersey Theatre Presents Poland Orchestra

A free pre-performance insight is available. The orchestra series is sponsored by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. Tickets range from $35-75 (student, senior, and group discounts apply).

Warsaw Philharmonic, The National Orchestra of Poland

The Warsaw Philharmonic has been since its inception and remains today Poland’s leading musical institution. Antoni Wit has been the Warsaw Philharmonic’s Artistic Director and Conductor since 2002. At present the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra has 110 instrumentalists and the Choir has 95 members.

The Warsaw Philharmonic has made numerous recordings for Polish and foreign record companies, such as Polskie Nagrania, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Decca, Naxos and CD Accord. These recordings have won numerous awards and distinctions. The recordings present Polish music through the works of Chopin, Szymanowski, Gorecki, Lutoslawaski, Panufnik, Penderecki and Szymanski, without neglecting the world repertoire, such as, for example, the complete Beethoven’s symphonies. The recording of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem and Roman Maciejewski’s Requiem - Missa pro defunctis were world phonograph premiers. The orchestra also makes recordings for the Polish Radio and Television, as well as participates in film music recordings.

Antoni Wit, General and Artistic Director

Since 2002, Antoni Wit—one of the most highly regarded Polish conductors—has been the General and Artistic Director of Warsaw Philharmonic – The National Orchestra and Choir of Poland. Maestro Wit studied conducting with Henryk Czyz and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki at the Academy of Music in Cracow, and subsequently continued his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Some of Wit’s posts have included Conductor of Poznan Philharmonic, Artistic Director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic (1974-77), and Director of the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Chorus in Cracow, Director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, and Chief Conductor of Orquestra Filarmonica de Gran Canaria.

Valentina Lisitsa, piano

The incomparable talents of pianist Valentina Lisitsa have been capturing the attention of audiences throughout the world. She is widely known and respected as a duo-pianist alongside her husband Alexei Kuznetsoff.

Born in Kiev, Lisitsa presented her first solo recital at the age of six. A graduate of the famed Kiev Conservatory, she has won numerous international prizes, such as the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition, Concertino Prague, The Lysenko Piano Competition, The Paris Chamber Music Competition, and the Ukrainian Chamber Music Competition. Since making her New York debut in 1995 at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center with Gerard Schwartz conducting, she has maintained an active international schedule in recital and with orchestras, including a U.S. tour with the Orchestre National de France under Charles Dutoit, performing the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos with her husband. -- www.statetheatrenj.org