Concerts, festivals, recordings and premieres, early and contemporary music, chamber concerts, grand concert halls, spectacular performances… The Polish Radio Choir – one of the oldest professional vocal ensembles in Poland, founded in 1948 by composer and conductor Jerzy Gert – is busy celebrating its 70th anniversary! Running since May, the celebrations culminate with the concert Jubilee 2.0, resounding at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre on 22 October; the event is a repeat of a performance in Warsaw the day before.
We will hear Mikołaj Gomółka’s Melodies for the Polish Psalter conducted by Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett (the artist and ensemble are currently working on the first ever complete recording of the work), Krzysztof Penderecki’s a cappella pieces under the baton of the choir’s artistic director Maria Piotrowska-Bogalewska, and Stanisław Moniuszko’s Litanies of Ostra Brama with Jacek Kaspszyk directing soloists, the Polish Radio Choir and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. All that’s left for us to do is wish the choir many happy returns! (Barbara Skowrońska)

Mikołaj Gomółka (1535-1600)
Melodies for the Polish Psalter – selection
Polish Radio Choir
Ziv Braha – lute
Tomasz Sobaniec – percussion
Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett – Renaissance harp, lead

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933)
a cappella works
Polish Radio Choir
Maria Piotrowska-Bogalecka – conductor

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Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Litanies of Ostra Brama (I & II)
Ewa Biegas – soprano
Ewa Marciniec – alto
Tomasz Piluchowski – tenor
Tomasz Konieczny – bass
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
Jacek Kaspszyk – conductor