Workshop & Jury
Competition audition programme:
- A selected a-capella composition
- A composition inspired by or containing folklore elements from the country represented by the group
Competition audition:
Every participant of the Cracovia Con Anima Festival can take part in the audition. The main purpose of this part of the programme is to enable our specialists from the jury to get to know the skills of choirs.
The audition will also facilitate determination of sequence of performances during the finale; moreover, the best choir will be selected which will receive a prize during the final concert.
This will also be an opportunity for the meeting of all Festival participants.
Workshops
The workshops will take place in M. Karłowicz Music School in Kraków. All participants, under the supervision of the conductor Piotr Sulkowski, will practice the same choir composition “Totus Tuus” which will be later presented by all participants at the final concert in the Kraków philharmonic. A break is scheduled during the workshop.
The meeting will last approx. 3 hours and it will provide an excellent opportunity for all participants of the Cracovia Con Anima Festival to get to know one another and to exchange experiences, establish new contacts and become familiar with the Polish culture.
Interpretive difficulties of "Totus
Tuus" by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.
After signing in to the workshop, the
choir will receive access to the music file “Totus Tuus” to download.
The choral workshop will focus on interpretive problems of “Totus Tuus”, one of
the most important works in Polish choral literature of the last century.
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki dedicated this work to Pope John Paul II for his third
pilgrimage to his homeland.
Since then “Totus Tuus” has become well known to music lovers and it is
regularly included in the repertoire of Polish choirs.
The workshop will be led by the distinguished Polish Choir Director Piotr
Sulkowski who trains choirs in oratory singing, personally conducts a
capella concerts and cooperates with famous Polish composers such as
H.M.Górecki, Krzysztof Penderecki and Wojciech Kilar.
The main leader of the jury and workshops: Piotr Sulkowski
Since the beginning of his artistic career, Mr. Sulkowski has been regarded by critics as an outstanding conducting talent. He completed with honours the Cracow Music Academy, first at the Faculty of Musical Education (1993), and later at the Faculty of Conducting (1996), in the class of Prof. Jerzy Katlewicz. During the course of his studies, Mr. Sulkowski improved his skills as a grant holder of the Internationale Bachakademie, attending master courses conducted by Helmuth Rilling and John Eliot Gardiner in Germany, and later as a trainee at the Oregon Bach Festival. Even whilst studying, he actively participated in the musical life of Krakow, contributing to the "Young Composers' Forum" and establishing the Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra (which has now become the Forum Sinfonia).
Together with his Orchestra, Mr. Sulkowski was awarded the prestigious First Prize for the Best Performance, granted by a group of journalists and musical critics. He travelled with his Orchestra in Poland and abroad (e.g. in the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium) and continues his active concerting activities today. In recognition of his successes, Mr. Sulkowski was granted the Artistic Stipend of the Mayor of the City of Krakow. He has been co-operating with a number of orchestras and teaching music courses.
Since 1993, he has conducted the Choir and Orchestra of the Fryderyk Chopin State Secondary School of Music in Krakow with which he travels once a year to France to conduct educational programmes for the French youth. As a lover and champion of music by W. Kilar, he performed a number of Kilar's works with the School Choir and Orchestra, including the "Missa pro pace" in Berlin Cathedral on the 65th Anniversary of the Outbreak of the Second World War, on the date of Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004.
As the Artistic Director of Cracow Opera, Mr. Sulkowski started regular co-operation with the Krakow Music Academy, completing two full opera productions in the season of 2006/2007: Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Since 2008 he has worked at the Krakow Music Academy as a teacher in the "opera ensembles faculty".
He was the initiator of the Cracow Opera's summer concerts given at the 18th century Barbakan in Krakow. Together with the Cracow Opera team of artists, he gave the world premiere of the Cracovia est Oratorio by D. Regucki for the climax of the 750th anniversary of the granting of self-government rights to Krakow. In November 2007, during the Polish Music Festival, he gave the world premiere of then unknown K. Szymanowski's “The Lottery for Husbands” operetta as part of the Szymanowski's Year, in co-operation with the Polish Music Publishing House (PWM).
Mr. Sulkowski keeps in his repertoire a rich collection of symphonic works, from early Baroque to those from the present day, and about thirty operas and ballets. Even as a teaching assistant, he co-operated with Richard Bonynge on the production of the Montecchi e Capuleti opera. The Rape of Lucretia, produced by Mr. Sulkowski in Krakow in 2004, was recognised as the best performance of the year at the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival.
Mr. Sulkowski co-founded the Cracow Chamber Opera where he produced several performances. He was an honorary jury member of the XIIth Ada Sari International Vocal Competition in Nowy Sacz. He co-organised and managed the "Young Chamber Artists Spring" International Children's Competition which has taken place in Cracow since 2001.
In 2008 during the „Rozstaje Festival” Mr. Sulkowski conducted an anniversary concert with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra and the world famous soloist – George Zamhir. With the same orchestra he performed the audio recording of B. Chajdecki’s score for the historical Polish TV serial „Time of Honour”.
Musician by profession, founder and owner of Agencja Artystyczna Presto which has been operating at the music market since 1996.
Mr. Kućmierz organised over one hundred classical music concerts in Poland and abroad.
During the last 14 years of operation at the market, he has been the co-founder and producer of several important music festivals in Poland. Mr. Kućmierz also provides production management services for artists related to his agency.