Capella Cracoviensis

Poland's Capella Cracoviensis unites orchestral and choral forces in a repertory stretching from the Renaissance through Mozart, with occasional forays into medieval works and music of the present day. After long relying on modern instruments, the ensemble adopted period instruments in 2011, a change that provoked considerable debate.

Stanislaw Galonski, conductor and composer, established the group in Krakow in 1970; its Polish name translates as “Krakow Chapel Choir.” Galonski served as the founding general manager and music director. Krakow Philharmonic conductor Jerzy Katlewicz first proposed the concept of an early-music orchestra to Galonski, and the ensemble has appeared regularly in the Philharmonic’s principal hall. Among its guest conductors have been Paul Goodwin, Andrew Parrott, Andreas Spering, Paul McCreesh, Roy Goodman, Fabio Bonizzoni, and Matteo Messori. Tours to the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, together with a 2000 Vatican concert for Pope John Paul II, have secured its standing among Poland’s leading Renaissance and Baroque ensembles.

Music director Jan Tomasz Adamus, appointed in 2008, required the complete transition to historical instruments in 2011. The demand triggered street demonstrations and union resistance, yet Adamus succeeded; subsequent recordings on the Polish Dux label, France’s Alpha, and the international Decca group have enhanced the orchestra’s global profile.

In a single day in 2016 the ensemble presented all nine Beethoven symphonies on period instruments before a live audience of 2,300 and a substantial radio public. Two 2018 releases followed: an Avi disc pairing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, with pianist Marius Klimsiak and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”), and a Decca recording of Nicola Porpora’s opera Germanico in Germania.