Kraków Philharmonic
Concert hall on ul. Zwierzyniecka, home of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic orchestra and choir.
The Kraków Philharmonic, named after Karol Szymanowski, gave its first concert in February 1945, making it the earliest symphony orchestra re-established in Poland after the Second World War. It occupies a neo-Baroque building on ul. Zwierzyniecka completed in 1931 to a design by Józef Pokutyński and funded by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha; built as a Catholic house rather than a concert hall, it was adapted for music after the war and its main auditorium was thoroughly refurbished in 2020.
The main hall seats a little under 700 and holds a concert organ; two smaller rooms, the Golden Hall and the Blue Hall, are used for chamber programmes and talks. Resident forces are the orchestra, the mixed choir and a boys' choir, and the season runs from autumn to summer with symphonic and oratorio series, university concerts, family programmes and festivals. Larger concerts are sometimes given at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, and a purpose-built new hall for the institution is being planned.
Highlights
- Main auditorium of under 700 seats, refurbished in 2020
- Resident orchestra, mixed choir and boys' choir
- Golden Hall and Blue Hall used for chamber concerts
- Neo-Baroque building of 1931 by Józef Pokutyński
