We are looking forward to our first concert as part of a new annual festival of Polish sacred music: Joy & Devotion. The festival is taking place at St Martin-in-the-Fields from 2-5 November 2021 under the artistic direction of Paweł Łukaszewski.
We will be giving the opening concert, interspersing a programme of works by prominent contemporary Polish composers, including two world premieres, with Krzystof Borek’s 16th century Missa Mater Matris. Borek’s Mass was the inspiration for the programme, based itself on the Missa Mater Patris by Josquin des Prez whose anniversary celebration continues five hundred years after his death.
Works being given their world premieres include Aleksander Jan Szopa’s Ave, Regina caelorum and Łukasz Farcinkiewicz’s O salutaris Hostia. We will also perform the late Krzysztof Penderecki’s Benedicamus Domino and Andrzej Panufnik & Roxanna Panufnik’s Modlitwa/Prayer.
Paweł Łukaszewski, Artistic Director, said: “It has been an honour and a delight to work on the inaugural ‘Joy & Devotion’. The programme this year is a stirring introduction to the abundance and emotion of Polish sacred music. I am as excited to bring the works of well-known and much-loved composers such as Penderecki, Górecki and Roxanna Panufnik. We will present more obscure works from centuries-old Polish masters and the world premieres of two composers just starting their careers.”
