At both concerts, the orchestra, led by its chief conductor, Sakari Oramo, will perform Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 and Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G minor, with Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi as the soloist.
The Katowice concert will be held at the home of public broadcaster Polish Radio's National Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR).
In Warsaw, the BBC SO will perform the same programme at the National Philharmonic on Sunday.
The BBC SO, which has been at the centre of British musical life since its founding in 1930, has visited Poland several times in recent years.
In 2023, it performed under Estonian conductor Olari Elts at the Eufonie Festival in Warsaw, with a programme that included Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring Vadim Gluzman as the soloist.
In 2018, the BBC SO gave a special concert in Szczecin, northwestern Poland, as part of celebrations marking the centenary of Polish independence.
Led by Polish conductor Michał Nesterowicz, the concert featured an almost entirely Polish programme: Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s Piano Concerto, performed by Polish-born Canadian pianist Janina Fiałkowska; Witold Lutosławski’s Symphony No. 1; Paweł Szymański's Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson Overture, a BBC commission; and Elgar's Symphonic Prelude Polonia.
The Elgar work contains quotations from compositions by Chopin and Paderewski and concludes with the Dąbrowski Mazurka, Poland's national anthem.
(mk/gs)