Ensemble OMN

New music is still often seen as complex, niche, and accessible only to a select few. For nearly thirty years, the New Music Orchestra ( Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, OMN) has been proving that it doesn’t have to be this way. That the most contemporary music doesn’t have to be incomprehensible. That sophistication can go hand in hand with clarity, experimentation with emotion, and intellectual depth, yielding genuine impact.

Founded in the mid-1990s by composer Aleksander Lasoń, OMN began as a student group of enthusiasts. Today, it is one of the most important new music orchestras in Europe – a professional ensemble with international acclaim, collaborating with major composers, soloists, and conductors specializing in contemporary music. Since 2006, OMN has been led by Szymon Bywalec, under whose direction the ensemble has completed hundreds of projects and significantly expanded its repertoire.

OMN performs the most challenging scores of the 20th and 21st centuries, frequently premiering works commissioned from both Polish and international composers. The ensemble has delivered nearly 300 world and Polish premieres, including pieces by Lachenmann, Saariaho, Nørgård, Sørensen, Andre, Steen-Andersen, as well as many Polish composers. The orchestra has been conducted by François-Xavier Roth, Daniel Kawka, Wojciech Michniewski, and Jean Deroyer, and has collaborated with renowned soloists such as Jakob Kullberg, Marco Blaauw, and Ashot Sarkissjan.

OMN regularly appears at major contemporary music festivals in Poland and abroad, having performed in Aarhus, Bratislava, Prague, Oslo, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Paris, Freiburg, and Beijing. It collaborates with leading European institutions, including IRCAM, SWR Experimentalstudio, and Tempo Reale, as well as with musicians from Klangforum Wien, Ensemble InterContemporain, and the London Sinfonietta.

The ensemble has released dozens of CDs on labels such as Anaklasis, Decca, DUX, Aurora, and CD Accord, many of which have received international awards and nominations, including the Pizzicato Supersonic Award, Carl Prisen, Fryderyk Awards, and ICMA. OMN continues to develop its own artistic and educational projects, ranging from festivals and concert series to interdisciplinary events that incorporate dancers, vocalists, media, and technology. Since 2014, OMN has hosted its own concert series at the NOSPR headquarters in Katowice, presenting several programs each season that focus on contemporary music.

This concert is a rare opportunity to hear one of Poland’s most original contemporary ensembles – and to discover that “difficult” music can, in fact, be utterly fascinating!

Schoenberg's Kammersymphonie No. 1 performed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru: