The Gaude Mater Festival in Częstochowa opened with a world premiere performance of Missa Corpus Christi by Łukasz Farcinkiewicz (b. 1981). Completed in 2011, Farcinkiewicz’s Missa is scored for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra. Solists Magdalena Rucińska and Maciej Nerkowski and the Cardinal Wyszyński University Choir were accompanied by the Orchestra Nova et vetera led by maestro Michał Sawecki. The concert was held at the Jasna Góra basilica on May 1 at noon.
Noted Israeli cantor, Israel Rand and the Choir of the White Swan Synagogue in Wrocław were heard in two concerts—at the Częstochowa Philharmonic on May 2 and in the newly-opened concert hall in Bełchatów on May 4. Born in 1963 in Tel-Aviv, Izrael Rand studied and performed in Israel before serving as Lead Cantor at the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, New York during the years 1995-2006.
Sacred music from Georgia was heard on May 2 at the St. Jacob-the-Apostle church in Częstochowa. The program featured the Anchiskhati Mens’ Choir in a repertoire of sacred Georgian music.
On Sunday, May 4, the ACM Gospel Choir from the United Kingdom presented a program at the Cultural Center Auditorim in the city of Radomsko. Also that evening at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Katowice, Orkiestra Historyczna performed 18th century works by Amandus Ivanschitz preserved at the Jasna Góra Monastery library. The same program was repeated at the Jasna Góra basilica on May 6.
[Sources: gaudemater.com]