On December 8, 2018, a ceremonial concert of premieres of works inspired by the teaching of John Paul II will take place at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The event is the culmination of the first edition of the composer's competition organized by the The Centre for the Thought of John Paul II under the motto "John Paul II, the son of the land of Poland".

The aim of the project was to encourage young artists to learn from the teaching of John Paul II. 49 choral compositions were submitted for the competition.The choice of the best compositions was made by the Jury, which included highly regarded Polish composers and choirmasters – Paweł Łukaszewski, Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, Miłosz Bembinow, Bartosz Michałowski and Szymon Godziemba-Trytek. During the gala concert, the premiere of the awarded compositions will be performed by the Choir of The Centre for Thought of John Paul II under the direction of Jan Krutul. The compositions indicated by the Jury will also be published by the Chopin University Press publishing house as part of a special papal series and will become an attractive repertoire proposition for many choirs.

The first prize for the Prayer to our Lady of the Divine Love went to Katarzyna Danel – a young composer who has been awarded many prizes, graduate of the Academy of Music in Poznań. The second prize for the work of the same title was given to Michał Malec – a composer from Lublin, a student at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. The third prize was awarded to the Warsaw composer Jakub Szafrański for the piece Hail, oh Mother. Three distincions were also awarded to: Aleksandra Chmielewska (Warsaw), Michał Sołtysik (Warsaw) and Ivan Vryublevskyi (Krakow).

More information about the competition at: www.kompozytorzyjp2.pl