THE POLISH CHAMBER CHOIR  "SCHOLA CANTORUM GEDANENSIS"

The Polish Chamber Choir, that has been existing for more than 30 years now, is one of the worldwide known chamber choirs being completely professional. It gives approximately 100 concerts a year, preparing more than 50 different programmes. The Choir’s overriding aim is  to regularly work at the instrumental, ‘orchestra’ level, what- apart from many other abilities- requires gaining an absolute mastery of a vocal apparatus, allowing  the realization of all technical and artistic requirements of the partiture. Interests of this versatile and consisting of 24 professional musicians band, concentrate mainly on the a cappella music- first of all a modern one, therefore it is only natural that copious famous composers dedicate their masterpieces to the ensemble. In the choir’s repertoire, together with the numerous premieres, one can find  among others oratorios and operas, which are performed in the cooperation with the most distinguished philharmonic orchestras of Poland,  as well as with such eminent ensembles as: Sinfonia Varsovia, The Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra – Sopot, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, Academy of Ancient Music as well as many other European baroque orchestras and the early music ensembles.
Among the worldwide famous conductors, which cooperate with the Polish Chaber Choir, the following names can be cited: Eric Ericson, Uwe Gronostay, Frieder Bernius and Stephen Layton. The Polish Chamber Choir frequently appears in the international festivals, such as “Warsaw Autumn”, “Wratislavia   Cantans”,   “Ruhr-Festival”,  “Rendez-vous musique nouvelle”, as well as in the places such as Salzburg, Dresden, Berlin and Tokio. Its international tours take the group through almost all of the European countries, to the USA and Japan. During “the World Symposium on Choral Music” in Rotterdam the ensemble was introduced as the ‘official symposium choir’.
Besides almost 60 CD’s, cassettes and videos, The Polish Chamber Choir has recorded dozens of hours of the music for the Polish Radio in Warsaw. Since 1999 ensemble has been regularly nominated to the phonographic awards  (in 2004 two awards: ‘Fryderyk’, 2008  – the  third one). The Choir records also for the Polish Television, Dutch Radio, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk, Sender Freies Berlin, Westdeutscher Rundfunk as well as for ZDF. The Polish Chamber Choir was a distinctive Polish accent during the Christmas Concert for EBU, relayed live  in Canada and numerous European countries. In August 2006 r. – ‘The Mozart Year’ – the choir, being the originator and the main organizer, inaugurated the four-day  International  Mozart Festival Mozartiana. In 2008 the Polish Chamber Choir celebrated  the 31 anniversary of its existence. There were few  CD’s issued in the Commemorative Year in Poland and Germany. The Jubilee celebrations were crowned  by  a monographic concert of opusses by Krzysztof Penderecki, which were performed a capella, in the presence of the composer himself in the Artusa Court in Gdańsk (22 XII). In 2009 the ensemble recorded and published the CD’s with  the opuses of Krzysztof Penderecki. ( for DUX Publisher).

JAN ŁUKASZEWSKI
 
The conductor, general and artistic director of the Polish Chamber Choir, is believed to be one of the most distinguished European specialists in the field of  the choral music. He also cooperates as the guest conductor with the Polish Radio Choir in Kraków as well as with many Polish and foreign emsembles. Artistic interests of Jan Łukaszewski concentrate mainly on the romantic and modern music. Under his direction, the Polish Chamber Choir achieved a high artistic level. The world premieres are often conducted by him. Currently, Jan Łukaszewski teaches at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz- offering the master classes within the conductor studies and is often invited to participate in the master courses in musical interpretation as well as the seminars for the choral conductors in Poland or abroad. Jan Łukaszewski frequently took part in the juries of the internationally renowned choral contests, among others in Japan, Latvia, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as the jury of the composer contests in Poland and Great Britain. He is one of the few Polish promoters and performers of the choral music by such composers as: Schönberg, Messiaen, Xenakis, Globokar, Takemitsu, R. Strauss, Pepping, Tippett, Ives or Barber. Copious records for the Polish Radio, Dutch Radio, Sender Freies Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk and  Westdeutscher Rundfunk or for the Polish and German Television , as well as numerous CDs, MC, LP and videos are the most appropriate reflection of the high level of his work. The artistic level of the Polish Chamber Choir which is led by him is still inspiring composers to create the ‘a capella’ masterpieces  for the choir. Jan Łukaszewski is a laureate  of many prestigious awards.