Polish Chamber Choir Schola Cantorum Gedanensis

The Polish Chamber Choir Schola Cantorum Gedanensis* belongs to the narrow circle of the world elite of fully professional chamber choirs. The ensemble founded in 1978 by Ireneusz Łukaszewski, has been under the direction and artistic leadership of Jan Łukaszewski since 1983. The interests of the 24 professional musicians in the group mainly focus on a cappella music, especially contemporary and romantic. Therefore, it is not surprising that many world-famous composers dedicate their works to the ensemble (including H. M. Górecki, K. Penderecki, W. Kilar, A. Bloch, K. Meyer, P. Łukaszewski). The choir's repertoire includes over 350 premieres, numerous oratorio and opera programs, performed in collaboration with the most outstanding Polish and foreign ensembles and philharmonic orchestras, such as Sinfonia Varsovia, National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio in Katowice, Academy of Ancient Music (Great Britain), Divino Sospiro (Portugal), Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik (Germany), Concilium Musicum Wien (Austria). The Polish Chamber Choir collaborates with world-renowned conductors, including Eric Ericson, Uwe Gronostay, Frieder Bernius, and Stephen Layton. The Polish Chamber Choir regularly performs at international music festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn, Wratislavia Cantans, Ruhr-Festival, Rendez-vous musique nouvelle. In addition to over 60 CD albums, many of which have been nominated for music awards, the Polish Chamber Choir has also recorded for Polish and foreign radio stations and television channels. One of the ensemble's recent CD albums, 'Penderecki: Complete Choral Works' (DUX 2009), is the world's first complete monograph of the composer's a cappella choral works. One of the most significant artistic projects of the Polish Chamber Choir is the International Mozart Festival 'Mozartiana'.