The Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra from Wrocław
The Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra from Wrocław was founded in 1978. The name of the ensemble refers to the Baroque Leopoldina Lecture Theatre of the university in Wrocław famous for its excellent acoustics. The first concert took place in 1979 under the direction of Tadeusz Strugała, one of the founders of the orchestra. A prominent chamber musician, Karol Teutsch, was the artistic director for many years. From 1993-1995 he was replaced in this position by Jan Stanienda. The everyday work of the orchestra is managed by its concert master of 20 years, Zbigniew Szufłat. Since January 2007 the orchestra has found an artistic director in Ernst Kovacic, a violinist and composer and a valued performer of contemporary music.
The orchestra forms part of the Witold Lutosławski Philharmony in Wrocław. It has performed in numerous concert halls including the Berlin Philharmonie and Schauspielhaus, Tivoli Koncertsal in Copenhagen; at festivals in Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Portugal and numerous festivals in Poland including Warszawska Jesień, Wratislavia Cantans and Musica Polonica Nova. They have also performed at the Europalia festival (2001), the Polish Year in France (2004), Germany (2005), the Poland 2006 Festival in Trondheim, Norway, and represented Poland at the “europalia.europa” festival in Belgium (2007).