{oh!} Orkiestra was founded in 2012, and already in its first decade, this constantly evolving ensemble, under the leadership of Martyna Pastuszka, has established itself as a leading orchestra specializing in historically informed performance in Poland.
The ensemble enjoys international recognition, as evidenced by concerts in major European concert halls and festivals, collaborating with distinguished soloists and conductors such as Marta Argerich, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Kristian Bezouidenhout, Julia Lezhnieva, Xavier de Maistre, Tomasz Konieczny, Makoto Ozone, Julien Chauvin, Vincent Dumestre, Max Cencic, Chouchane Siranossian, Tomasz Ritter, Andreas Staier, Franco Fagioli, Jakob Lehmann, and Vaclav Luks.
{oh!} Orkiestra has released eighteen CD albums and has been broadcast on European, Asian, and American radio stations, as well as on Mezzo, Medici.tv, and Arte TV. In 2021, TVP Kultura recorded a documentary about Martyna Pastuszka and the {oh!} Orkiestra, titled “I Am Not a Maestro.”
The orchestra is exploring forgotten Baroque operatic repertoire and performing stage versions of vocal works. The ensemble focuses in particular on the world premieres of Domenico Sarri’s Didone Abbandonata, Johann Adolf Hasse’s Arminio, and Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie, as well as concert versions of Leonardo Vinci’s Gismondo re di Polonia and Antonio Caldara’s Il Venceslao. Jacob Schuback’s oratorio Die Jünger zu Emmaus and more than a dozen instrumental works, both symphonic and chamber, have also been revived.
Since 2018, the orchestra has collaborated regularly with the Chopin Institute in Warsaw. Thanks to this collaboration, Martyna Pastuszka and {oh!} Orkiestra received an invitation from the Institute to record the complete Mozart symphonies, complete Beethoven piano concertos with Tomasz Ritter, complete Janiewicz violin concertos with soloist Chouchane Siranossian, and numerous works of Polish Romantic music.
