The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1953 under Zbigniew Soja. Later chorus masters have included Roman Kuklewicz (1955–1971), Józef Bok (1971–1974), Antoni Szaliński (1974–1978) and Henryk Wojnarowski (1978–2016). Since 2017, the post has been held by Bartosz Michałowski.
The ensemble has given concerts in the most important musical centres of Europe, collaborating with outstanding orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker. It has taken part in opera performances at La Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the opera theatres in Pesaro, Palermo and Paris. Three times the choir took part in gala concerts organised for John Paul II at the Vatican.
The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir has been conducted by eminent Polish and foreign conductors, including Gary Bertini, Andrzej Boreyko, Sergiu Comissiona, Henryk Czyż, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Witold Lutosławski, Lorin Maazel, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Krzysztof Penderecki, sir Simon Rattle, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Semkow, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Stanisław Wisłocki, Antoni Wit, Bohdan Wodiczko.
The choir’s wide repertoire comprises several hundred oratorios and a cappella works, ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary pieces. Polish music, especially the output of Krzysztof Penderecki, is of particular importance. The ensemble has performed and recorded all of his oratorio and a cappella pieces. Released in 2016, album Penderecki conducts Penderecki vol. 1 was honoured with a 2017 Grammy Award – the most prestigious award of the world recording industry. Their CDs had been nominated for a Grammy six times before (five times for its recordings of Penderecki’s works and one for a Karol Szymanowski album). The recordings of the complete Masses by Stanisław Moniuszko won the Fryderyk Award and the Golden Orpheus – Arturo Toscanini from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique. The ensemble also won a Fryderyk Award for its phonographic achievements in the years 2011, 2018 and 2020, and the choir’s latest CD Paweł Łukaszewski. The Adoration, Paweł Łukaszewski. The Adoration released in 2024, received a nomination for this award.