Here are a few tips on how to show to both the residents of Wroclaw and the tourists that it is not difficult to sing at all, and that singing may be quite a joy as well You need to choose a repertoire that almost everybody knows how to sing, stand in the Main Market Square in Wroclaw, fend off stage fright and make a warm-up before the celebrations of the European Capital of Culture in 2016, when the Whole of Europe will sing in unison with Wroclaw. On Friday at 8 pm four academic choirs from various part of Poland will sing Queen's "We Will Rock You" and many other all-time classics. The audience will be offered to sing along. Both experienced connoisseurs and those who have just taken a liking to this will be offered an opportunity to attend a special performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem at Saint Mary Magdalene's Church on 9 August at 9 pm. Admission is free!
Wroclaw will sing in unison with the whole of Poland and with the whole of Europe as well
First came the Singing Wroclaw, the project designed by Andrzej Kosendiak that reverberated in the whole of Poland when it turned out that (almost)everybody can sing and school choirs do not have to perform boring repertoire and can bring incredible energy instead. We sent positive vibes to the rest of Poland who bought into the idea, and similar initiatives began to crop up at schools all over the country. Poland wants to show Europe that singing in a choir is trendy. To prove this, Andrzej Kosendiak came up with his new project Singing Europe. The project is going to reach its climax on 6 August 2016 at the Wroclaw Stadium and it is now bound to be one of the most important events in the European Capital of Culture programme. The event will gather several thousand choir singers from the whole of Europe. "One of the Japanese foundations expressed interest in the project, even though we can mainly attract European audiences," points out Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, a choir conductor and the music curator at the ECC 2016.
Paul McCreesh to work with choirs
It is Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny who selected the four choirs to perform Verdi's Requiem under the baton of Paul McCreesh and together with soloists (Ewa Vesin, Edyta Kulczak, Robert Murray and Jan Martiník) and the NFM Symphonic Orchestra. The audience attending Saint Mary Magdalene's Church will see performances from the Academic Choir of the Gdańsk University, Astrolabium Choir, Academic Choir of the Warsaw University and the Medici Cantates Choir of the Medical University of Wroclaw. "We are going to see eminent and prize-winning ensembles," says Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny. Why these particular choirs? "Their sound is just perfectly suited to Paul McCreesh's concept of sound," argues the ECC 2016 curator, who has been collaborating with the English maestro for a number of years. Interestingly enough, for Paul McCreesh, this will be the first encounter with Polish academic choirs, since to date he has only collaborated with Polish professional singers. However, he took a liking to the idea and at the beginning of the next week he will start rehearsals with the four joint ensembles (around 130 singers). The conductor and the soloists (the tenor Robert Murray and the bass Jan Martiník) will be the only European element in the programme. The Singing Europe will present performances from European choirs next year, and in 2016 Wroclaw will turn into Wratislavia Cantans.
Magdalena Talik
