Poland. Wroclaw. Diamond final of Singing Europe - Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna

On a warm August Saturday evening (06.08.16) in the concert hall of the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, music lovers from not only Poland, but also from around the world gathered. Everyone had long awaited the performance of their favorite stars from the biggest opera stages - Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna, so there was already great enthusiasm before entering the building.

Through the involvement in the Singing Europe project of about 150 people from 5 choirs from Poland and one choir from Serbia (bravo for the idea), a concert with a dual perspective was achieved - two concerts in one. For me personally, it was a huge joy to hear the sound and power of the human voice in such fantastic acoustics not only in “Les voici! Voici la quadrille des Toreros” G. Bizet from “Carmen”, but the “Humming Chorus” from Madame Butterfly was so convincingly sung and realized that almost the entire audience succumbed to the charm of this wonderful murmurando... the flowing thoughts from the first moments gave way to a blissful calm... and then only loud, very well-deserved applause for the choir members, orchestra, and conductor. And just when it seemed that nothing could be sung better, the “Va pensiero” by G. Verdi from “Nabucco” resounded... the audience fell silent, surrendered to the music and the words, which floated lightly throughout the hall, resonating until the last breath... “That was the most beautiful Va pensiero I've ever heard in my life,” said the elderly man sitting next to me, a music lover, a regular attendee of concerts. And he repeated those words as he left after the concert. Bravo!

The culmination of the performance of the combined choirs into one vocal force were two of my personal favorite pieces from “La Traviata” by G. Verdi “Noi siamo zingarelle” and “Di Madride noi siamo mattadori.”

There was strength and there was power, nothing more needed to be added.

Huge applause to Mrs. Agnieszka Franków - the artistic coordinator of this project, and to all the conductors preparing the individual choirs.

The overture from the opera “Romeo and Juliet” by Ch. Gounod introduced us to the idea of this concert, in which we participated, and it was entirely conducted by maestro Bassem Akiki. It was he who introduced the evening's stars - Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna - onto the increasingly prestigious stage.

And the musical feast continued. We heard in an extraordinary performance arias and duets from operas such as “Faust”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Otello”, “Pagliacci”, “La Traviata”, and the aria performed by Roberto Alagna from the opera “Tosca” “E lucevan le stelle”, only confirmed our belief that Roberto Alagna is truly one of a kind... Fortunately, the tenor quickly revived after this aria and, sipping a sip of “plum” love potion, he charmed not only his partner on stage and in life, Aleksandra Kurzak, but also the entire audience, who had a great time with them. But they can enchant with both personality and voice, and the quality of execution of every sound, only artists with a capital A.

It was wonderful that the truly charming evening was emphasized by encores, which seemed to be executed with great ease, just like the entire concert, by the precise orchestra of the Wroclaw Philharmonic NFM conducted by Bassem Akiki. I think there is no need to convince anyone of the scale of difficulty of this concert and the entire project. This wonderful concert has already gone down in history. We will always remember it.

Iwona Karpińska
Wroclaw