Director of the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, Mr Piotr Milwiw-Baron presented the award on the occasion of the Sinfonia Iuventus jubilee. The Daphne statuette carved by the artist Gustaw Zemła was awarded to Colette Semkow, wife of the Orchestra’s patron Jerzy Semkow, for the supporting provided to the Orchestra, and the Secretary of State Mr Jarosław Sellin, for loving of music and supporting the musical environment. The award ceremony took place during the Orchestra’s Jubilee Concert in September 3, 2022 at the Concert Studio of the  Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio.

A statuette of Daphne, a Greek nymph beloved by Apollo and the heroine of Jacopo Peri’s first opera in the history of the Florentine opera, was commissioned by Kazimierz Gustaw Zemła, an outstanding Polish sculptor, on the initiative of POSI on the occasion of its 5th anniversary. So far, only Krzysztof Penderecki has received it, taking the honorary artistic patronage of the Orchestra in 2013. The artist, who likes to use the threads of classical mythology, praise the beauty of the female figure and the ambiguous symbolism of the tree, continued to work on the sculpture, giving it a shape that was slightly different from the original one (thus making that ¬ unique), which is also a beautiful symbol of the variability of art, constant search for perfection. He considered his work finished and signed it (also keeping the bronze copy for himself).