16 Best Performing Arts Venues in Warsaw, Poland

Tickets for many events can be bought at EMPiK, a local chain of shops.

The philharmonic hosts an excellent season of concerts, with visits from world-renowned performers and orchestras as well as Polish musicians. Very popular concerts of classical music for children—run for years by Jadwiga Mackiewicz, who is herself almost a national institution—are held here on Sunday at 11 (for younger children, 3–6) and at 2 (for children 7–12); admission begins at zł 28.

There are a lot of outdoor screenings during Filmowa Stolica, the city's summer film festival. The screenings are held at venues all over town.

"Guliwer" Teatr Lalek is one of Warsaw's excellent puppet theaters.

Don't count on seeing many Polish films while visiting Warsaw; only one cinema specializes in Polish features: Iluzjon Filmoteki Narodowej. You will also find art movies and even festivals of silent movies in its repertory. Recently renovated, the 1950s cinema is now a listed building, a great example of postwar modernism. Standing in a green square in the Old Mokotów district, its characteristic purplish blue neon sign beckoning from the distance, "Iluzjon" is one of Warsaw's magical places. There is a pleasant cafe inside, called "Iluzja."

You won't find box-office blockbusters at the stylish Kino Muranów, the favorite choice of serious cinemaniacs.

Tiny Kino.LAB is a part of the Center for Contemporary Art at the Ujazdowski Castle, showing experimental art films, video art, and even kitschy 1950s science-fiction movies. In summer, the cinema goes open-air (the screen is moved to the castle's courtyard).

Housed in a beautifully restored 19th-century theater, Opera Kameralna, the Warsaw chamber opera, has an ambitious program and a growing reputation for quality performances. They are the organizers of the annual Mozart Festival, held in June 2016 for the 26th time.

The Royal Castle has regular concerts in its stunning Great Assembly Hall.

The Studio Koncertowe Polskiego Radia, open since 1992, has excellent acoustics and popular programs of mostly classical and modern classical music as well as jazz.

Studium Teatralne is one of the city's avant-garde theater companies.

Perhaps the most daring and creative avant-garde scene is at Teatr Rozmaitości—now better known as "TR Warszawa." It stages mostly contemporary Polish and international plays, sometimes contemporary interpretations of classic plays, often with English subtitles. TR Warszawa attracts the most renowned Polish theatre directors (Grzegorz Jarzyna, Krystian Lupa, Krzysztof Warlikowski) and a troupe of great actors.

Warsaw's grand theater stages spectacular productions of the classic international opera and ballet repertoire, as well as Polish operas and ballets. The massive neoclassical house, built in the 1820s and reconstructed after the war, has an auditorium with more than 2,000 seats. Stanisław Moniuszko's 1865 opera Straszny Dwór (Haunted Manor), a lively piece with folk costumes and dancing, is a good starting point if you want to explore Polish music: the visual aspects will entertain you, even if the music is unfamiliar. Plot summaries in English are available at most performances.

The Chopin Society organizes recitals and chamber concerts in various locations, as well as several important piano competitions, including the famous International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years (the last one took place in 2015; therefore the next is due in 2020). They are also the organizers of open-air piano recitals next to the Chopin statue in Łazienki Park, held from May to September.

If you're planning in advance, you can buy tickets for many events from the website of Warsaw Tour, which has an English-language option and is the official Warsaw Tourism website. Also, they are running several information points around the city: at the Palace of Culture and Science, in the Old Town Square, at the airport, and at the central railway station.