Łódź | Choral Concert – Orthodox Church Music

The Łódź Philharmonic Choir under the direction of Dawid Ber will perform works by Dmytry Bortniansky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Aleksandr Grechaninov and Sławomir Kaczorowski on 30 May 2021 at 7.00 p.m. in the Evangelical-Augsburg Church of St Matthew (279/283 Piotrkowska St.).

Dmytry Bortniansky is a composer, singer and conductor of Lemko origin, whose national and cultural affiliation is argued by Russian and Ukrainian researchers. The Bortniansky family comes from the Lemko region, from the village of Bartne (Lemko: Bortne, now within the Polish borders). Bortniansky is considered to be the greatest composer of the 18th-century Russian cultural circle. His choral concerts were popular in Russia throughout the 19th century and are performed to this day. Hector Berlioz admired the composer's mastery of the polyphonic technique.

However, Pyotr Tchaikovsky did not like this music – he was critical of the domination of the Italian style introduced to church music by Bortniansky. The concert will feature Tchaikovsky's Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, a work written in a different style than the previously created church music, marking a new path for its development. The programme will also include a prayer Blagoslavi, dushe moya, Gospoda by Aleksandr Grechaninov, a student of Mikołaj Rimski-Korsakov, and a contemporary work – Otcze Nasz by Sławomir Kaczorowski.

Information about tickets: https://filharmonia.lodz.pl/pl