Sinfonia Varsovia was founded in April 1984 through the expansion of Jerzy Maksymiuk’s Polish Chamber Orchestra. The actual reason for the move was the visit to Poland of the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, invited by directors Waldemar Dąbrowski and Franciszek Wybrańczyk. The resulting concerts quickly won acclaim in Poland and abroad, and Menuhin went on to serve as the orchestra’s first Principal Guest Conductor.
Over the years, Sinfonia Varsovia has appeared in the world’s most prestigious concert halls alongside conductors Claudio Abbado, Emmanuel Krivine, Witold Lutosławski, Lorin Maazel, Jerzy Maksymiuk, and others, with soloists such as Piotr Anderszewski, Martha Argerich, Alfred Brendel, Yunchan Lim, Eric Lu, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Mstislav Rostropovich.
The orchestra has given more than 4,000 concerts on five continents and made over 300 recordings.
Krzysztof Penderecki served as Music Director from 1997 and later as Artistic Director from 2003 to 2020. Marc Minkowski was Music Director from 2008 to 2012. Since 2004, Sinfonia Varsovia has been directed by Janusz Marynowski, a long-standing member of the orchestra and successor to Franciszek Wybrańczyk.
Sinfonia Varsovia initiated an international architectural competition for the design of a new music centre with Poland’s largest concert hall. The project is financed by the City of Warsaw.