Mission and Activity

     Sinfonietta Polonia was established in 2004 by maestro Cheung Chau to realize his vision of extended orchestral studies for students
of music and young professionals. During the 16 years of its activity the orchestra transformed into a dynamic, ambitious, and professional ensemble. Members of the orchestra are talented musicians, soloists, chamber musicians, prize-winners in numerous national and international competitions. 

     The following highly acclaimed projects represent some of the most important accomplishments of Sinfonietta Polonia in its 16 years' history: performances in the multimedia events "Fellini's Ball" and "Rome Extravaganza" in 2017 at the Cinecitta Studios in Rome, with soloists from the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Odessa National Academic  Theater Opera and Ballet. The event was 1st prize-winner at the "8th Global Event Awards" in the "Best Gala" category; concerts featuring world renowned cellist Colin Carr; participation in the International Festival "Karol Szymanowski—the artist, who surpassed his time" in Beijing. This was an event  of the International Cultural Program of the Polish Presidency of the European Union Council, and featured Sinfonietta Polonia at concert halls including the Beijing Concert Hall and the Forbidden City Concert Hall, featuring renowned Polish and Chinese artists including Barbara Kubiak, Keqing Liu, Anna Maria Staskiewicz, and Maria Masycheva, among others; concerts at the Grosser Sendesaal des Rundfunks Berlin-Brandenburg in Berlin in 2012 and 2016; performing the Polish premiere of Mahler’s Das lied von der Erde sung with original Chinese text from VIII Century; four-time participation in the Mozart Festival in Poznan; the Greater Poland premiere of John Rutter’s Requiem with Stanislaw Wiechowicz Teachers’ Choir of Ostrow Wielkopolski which was nominated as the “event of the year” by the city of Ostrow; world premiere of Ralf Y. Gawlick’s “Zrodlo” [Fountain] based on text by John Paul II with the Poznan Boys Choir; performance of Yellow River Concerto representing the first time Chinese music resounded among the walls of the famed Adam Mickiewicz University Auditorium in Poznan with Ning An as soloist. 

     Since 2014, Sinfonietta Polonia under the direction of maestro Cheung Chau, performed the world première and 22 performances of "Alice in Wonderland", an original realization of the novel written by Lewis Carroll by Anna Niedzwiedz that combines ballet, modern dance, opera, and acrobatic performances, with music composed by Gabriel Kaczmarek, at the Grand Theater Opera House in Poznan and Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz and Swietokrzyska Philharmonic At 2016 Sinfonietta Polonia under Cheung Chau baton recorded the music to this performance on CD and next over 60 performences were presented with this CD  about 15 times at the Grand Theater Opera House and from 2022 it is still presented in Cortique Theatre in Poznan. As a result of the spectacular success of "Alice in Wonderland in 2016 Sinfonietta Polonia presented a second world première and performances of "Snow Queen", with the same creators. The Snow Queen was also a spectacular success both at the Grand Theatre in Poznań and at the Nova Opera in Bydgoszcz. It was presented more than 10 times until the Covid outbreak, and during the epidemic from 17 to 25 May 2020 it was presented online. It was watched by tens of thousands of people from all over the world. 

     Soloists Sinfonietta Polonia collaborated with include cellists Colin Carr, Daniel Veis and Cecilia Barczyk, pianists Ning An, Maria Masycheva  and Andrzej Tatarski and Joanna Marcinkowska, flutists Pierre-Yves Artaud and Ewa Murawska, oboist Nathan Hughes, trumpeter Roman Gryn, violinists Dominika Falger, Adrian Levine, Ben Sayevich, Stefan Tarara, Anna Maria Staskiewicz, Blanka Bednarz, Natalia Walewska, Ying Zhang and scientist/violinist Mark Ptashne, violists Ulrich Knörzer and Marcin Murawski, Filip Wojciechowski Trio (Filip Wojciechowski - piano, Cezary Konrad - percussion, Adam Ciesielski - basa) vocalists Barbara Kubiak, Barbara Gutaj-Monowid, Renata Drozd, Dorota Szczepańska Anna Karasinska, Jaroslaw Brek, Piotr Friebe, Keqing Liu, Tomasz Raczkiewicz, Hubert Stolarski, Piotr Rafalko, Ingolf Seidel. Sinfonietta Polonia collaborated with ensembles including the China National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Poznan Boys Choir, Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir, Kammerorchester Pro Artibus Hannover and with guest conductors: Markus L. Frank, Jacek Rogala, Dariusz Mikulski, Marcin Sompoliński, Renchang Fu, Aleksander Gref and Sylvio Segantini. 

     Since 2008 Sinfonietta Polonia received annual invitation to perform New Year concert tours in the Wielkopolska and Mazowsze regions. The orchestra toured twice to China, performing in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Hohhot, Erdos, Xilinhot, Shenyan and other cities. In July of 2010, the orchestra was invited to perform at the international festival "Rencontres Europeennes de Courseulles" in France. 

     The orchestra has been recorded by Central China TV, Huhhot TV, Acte Préalable, Norddeutsche Rundfunk, and the radio and TV in Poland. The orchestra’s performance in an opera gala held at the Beijing Concert Hall in 2011 was broadcast by  Central China TV 4 times.  It released 3 commercial CDs with the leading Polish label, Acte Préalable. These include: the world premiere recording of Polish composer's Roman Palester's Serenade for Two Flutes and String Orchestra with soloists Pierre-Ives Artaud and Ewa Murawska; as well as Mass 1050 and Snow Queen composed by Gabriel Kaczmarek. The latter two were released in 2016 and 2017 under Acte Préalable. Snow Queen, under the baton of maestro Cheung Chau, received the Silver Medal of International phonographic Competition "Global Music Awards" in Los Angeles in 2017.