Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra (Polish: Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie), founded in 1901, is one of Poland's oldest musical institutions. It was organized on initiative of an assembly of Polish aristocrats and financiers, as well as musicians. Between 1901 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, several virtuoso- and conductor-composers regularly performed their works with the orchestra, including Grieg, Honegger, Leoncavallo, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Richard Strauss, and Stravinsky. Among the other luminaries who played with the Philharmonic were the pianists Paderewski and Rubinstein, the violinists Heifetz and Sarasate, and the cellist Casals. The Philharmonic has played host to the Chopin International Piano Competition since the contest began in 1927, and also appeared at the inaugural Wieniawski International Violin Competition (1935) and Universal Festival of Polish Art (1937).