Considered one of Warsaw's key festivals and one of the world's major events of its kind, the INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC was launched in 1991 to mark the fourth pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to his native country. Initiated by the Polish organist Przemyslaw Kapitula, it has addressed the post-war issue of works of sacred music being performed in concert halls rather than in temples for which they had been composed.
The Festival's tremendous artistic success and, as importantly, its huge box office success prompted the organisers to turn what had been planned as a one-off event into a large-scale, annual and international occasion and a permanent item on the music agenda of Warsaw and Poland. Held in late May and early June and combining very high artistic standards with extraordinarily high bookings (audiences of 200-3000 at every concert), the Festival has been hailed one of Poland's most prestigious artistic projects.
The main purpose of the Festival is to present music related to Christianity and other religions in a way which the audiences will find most attractive. The concerts are held in the historical churches of Warsaw, mostly in St John's Cathedral, a major, internationally recognized venue for performing sacred and organ music.
The religious character of the music is either of a historical or formal nature. The Festival provides an excellent opportunity to promote and compare the achievement of Polish music (the cycle "All Feliks Nowowiejski's organ music", the revival of the works by the legendary organist of the Warsaw Cathedral, Mieczyslaw Surzynski, Polish organ tabulatures) with recognized foreign masterpieces.
The Festival's participants have so far included many accomplished musicians and ensembles, notably the Papal Choir CAPELLA SIXTINA under Maestro Domenico Bartolucci, WIENER SÄNGERKNABEN under Gerald Wirth, THE POZNAN NIGTHINGALES under Professor Stefan Stuligrosz, WARSAW CATHEDRAL CHOIR under Father Andrzej Filaber, POLISH NIGHTINGALES under Wojciech Krolopp, THE LUTHER NORDIX CHOIR, the orchestra SINFONIA VARSOVIA, NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF THE POLISH RADIO IN KATOWICE under Antoni Wit, SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR OF THE LVOV PHILHARMONIC, Wieslaw Ochman, and others. All in all, several thousand musicians appeared in the fifteen editions of the Festival. Equally impressive is the number of the audience (several dozen thousands) and of the works performed. The music spans all ages and includs solo works (such as Feliks Nowowiejski's organ symphonies and pieces by Louis Vierne), chamber works and, predominantly, compositions requiring a major performing apparatus, including soloists, a choir and an orchestra, such as Haydn, Beethoven and Händel oratories, Vivaldi, Schubert, Rossini, Mozart, Moniuszko, Pekiel, Bernstein and Gorecki masses, Jazz Mass, and other works.
The Festival concerts, musicological sessions and exhibitions of European organ-makers have stimulated music life in a number of churches and enhanced its prestige. The Festival is held under the patronage of the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, who awards his award, the Silver Pipe, for outstanding achievement and contribution to the development of sacred music in Poland. The Honorary Committee and the Artistic Council of the Festival include the finest artists, scholars and personages representing various fields of public life.
Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska
Polish Music Information Center
Polish Composers' Union
November 2006
ul. Esperanto 14 m. 6
01-049 Warszawa
Region: mazowieckie
Phone: (+48 22) 838 17 38, (+48) 501 158 477
WWW: www.kapitula.org/mfms.html
Email: kapitula@kapitula.org