Founded by Aleksander Lasoń in 1996, Ensemble OMN is  Poland’s longest-established ensemble devoted to contemporary music. Under its founder, and then from 2006 under Szymon  Bywalec, a student group of new-music enthusiasts steadily grew  into a professional ensemble able to realise the most demanding contemporary scores. Its members define their mission as  a search for consequential works: music of cultural importance  that deserves careful preparation and public presentation.

OMN continually expands its capabilities by working under distinguished Polish and international composers, including Helmut Lachenmann, Mark Andre, Simon Steen-Andersen, Louis  Andriessen, Kaija Saariaho, Per Nørgård, Bent Sørensen, and  with outstanding soloists such as Jakob Kullberg, Ashot Sarkissjan, Marco Blaauw, and Michele Marelli. It also invites conductors specialising in new music, among them Daniel Kawka,  François-Xavier Roth, Jean Deroyer, Christopher Austin, Steven  Loy, Ivan Buffa, and Wojciech Michniewski. Frequent partners  include players from leading European new music ensembles and  sound engineers from IRCAM, SWR Experimentalstudio, and  Tempo Reale.

The orchestra’s record includes nearly 300 world premieres  and first Polish performances of major contemporary works.  Each season, it commissions several new pieces, gives their  world premieres, and arranges repeat performances elsewhere.  It appears regularly at leading Polish and international festivals  and in major music centres. Its discography runs to dozens of  releases on Anaklasis, Aurora, Decca, Dacapo Records, DUX, CD  Accord, PWM Edition, and the Polish Composers’ Union label.  Many have won acclaim in leading music journals in Italy, France,  Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States, distinctions at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris and  Amsterdam, Danish Radio Award, Pizzicato Supersonic Award,  and Carl Prisen, as well as nominations for the ICMA and Fryderyk awards and the Classical:NEXT Innovation Award.

OMN has inspired and organised a wide range of artistic events:  festivals, concert and education series, and interdisciplinary  ventures featuring dancers, soloists, and singers, mounted outside concert halls and making use of multimedia and new technologies. The orchestra also takes part in international artistic  and educational projects, working with leading European new  music ensembles and institutions that champion contemporary  music.

As an ambassador for Polish culture, OMN joins forces with international partners on projects presenting the legacy of the Polish  school of composition at leading centres abroad. In this role, it has  performed Polish works in the European Capitals of Culture— Tallinn, Wrocław, and Mons—and organised events promoting  Polish music in Aarhus, Vienna, Prague, Oslo, Copenhagen,  Beijing, Paris, Freiburg, and Bratislava. Since 2014, at the home  of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice,  OMN has presented a well-attended concert series featuring several contemporary music programmes each season.