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The Open Theatre in Gdańsk will crown it's 25th anniversary year with a "Festive Concert of Christmas Carols at the End of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Year", which will be held on 30 December 2021 at 6.00 p.m. at the Artus Court in Gdańsk.

By a resolution of the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, Stefan Wyszyński became the patron of the year 2021. Primate Wyszyński wrote "Bethlehem connects heaven and earth, but it also brings God among men and teaches us to look at ourselves with brotherly eyes". His words teach us how to see good in every human being. This sentence takes on a special meaning during Christmas period. We prepare everything to share love, and singing Christmas carols in a family atmosphere results from the need of being together.

During the December Christmas concert, we will have an opportunity to sing Christmas carols together with renowned artists from the Tri-City: Anna Kinga Osior (soprano), Jacek Szymański (tenor), Dariusz Wójcik (bass), Katarzyna Rogalska (violin), Tomasz Klepczyński (clarinet) and Rafał Lewandowski (piano). The first part of the concert will be filled with well-known Marian songs, close to the heart of Cardinal Wyszyński, supplemented with excerpts from his Prison Notes. Fragments of Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio will introuduce a solemn atmosphere in the second part. The concert will be crowned with popular Polish Christmas carols and pastorals, including Jan Maklakiewicz's Nad stajenką gwiazda płonie, written to the rhythm of a sweeping polonaise. The programme will also include international Christmas hits and popular American Christmas songs.

Co-financed by the City of Gdańsk.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Ticket Information: https://www.teatrotwarty.pl/index.php/startowa/396-koncert-koled-dwor-artusa-2021.html 

The concert 'Christmas Carols of the World' is a great proposition for all those who relish the atmosphere of Christmas. This evening we will hear the most captivating carols from different parts of the world as well as classic Christmas and winter compositions. The West Side Sinfonietta and the NFM Choir, conducted by violinists Paweł Maślanka and Marcin Danilewski, will perform on the stage of the National Forum of Music on 28 December 2021 at 7 p.m.

A few days after the traditional Christmas Eve supper, the Christmas mood will also come to the NFM. This will happen thanks to this special concert whose repertoire includes various Christmas carols from different places and times written both in contemplative and vivacious moods. We will hear, among other, Polish carols arranged by Michał Zieliński, Krzysztof Grzeszczak and Jakub Wiktor Kowalewski.

The West Side Sinfonietta will begin the evening with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony in E major KV 16, composed in Chelsea, London. The next piece to be performed is the Symphony in B flat major, originally marked in Mozart’s catalogue as KV 17. The Weihnachtsmusik, intended for a line-up of two violins, cello, accordion and piano, is a unique work by the leading author of dodecaphony. It was composed in December 1921 for the purpose of celebrating Christmas with family and friends. With this piece, Arnold Schönberg once again proved that he is a master of counterpoint. He chose two well-known carols as the chorale basis: the Protestant Es ist ein Ros entsprungen and the Catholic Stille Nacht.

Press Release

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Ticket information: https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/ 

The composer Jolanta Zdechlikiewicz-Reclik, an ordinary member of the Polish Composers' Union since 1989, has passed away. The funeral mass will be held on 23 December 2021 at 12.00 p.m. at the Roman Catholic Church of Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels in Czeladź.

Jolanta Zdechlikiewicz-Reclik, a graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, was not only a composer and a great pianist, but above all a talented teacher, associated with Siemianowice Śląskie throughout her professional life.

She collaborated with the Siemianowice Cultural Centre in many fields. For many years she was teaching at the Community Music Centre. A few years ago, she founded the Musical Siemianowice Art School, of which she was the director. Her pupils were laureates of many competitions at the regional and national level and often performed in various branches of the Siemianowice Cultural Centre.

Jolanta Zdechlikiewicz-Reclik's works have been presented at various festivals, including the Silesian Days of Contemporary Music. She created wonderful pieces for children that engaged young audiences to perform contemporary music, also with the use of self-made instruments.

Professor Leonard Mróz, a great Polish bass singer and a valued educator, died on 13 December 2020. Soon after the first anniversary of this sad event, a concert commemorating the Professor will be held at the Warsaw Philharmonic. The Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra will also participate in this event, which will take place on 22 December 2021 at 7 p.m.

Tribute to the great singer will be paid by four outstanding soloists, each of whom boasts an impressive output in terms of stage performances, concerts and recordings: Rafał Siwek (bass), Aleksander Teliga (bass), Sylwester Kostecki (tenor), Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski (bass-baritone) i Adam Zdunikowski (tenor). They will present an extensive repertoire referring to the artistic emploi of the great artist, including, in the first part, songs by Polish and Russian composers and, in the second part, fragments of the opera he has been associated with most, an impressive fresco from the history of old Russia: Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky.

An important performer at the concert will be the outstanding Choir of the Grand Theatre – National Opera, which will be conducted by the originator of the event, Professor Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, student of Professor Mróz, vocalist with broad symphony and stage experience as the director of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic, the Wrocław opera and a guest conductor of numerous productions at the Grand Theatre – National Opera as well as other opera stages.

Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Ticket information: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/leonard-andrzej-mroz-in-memoriam-fragments-from-modest-mussorgskys-opera-boris-godunov-alongside-polish-and-russian-vocal-lyric/