Poland and Germany Together in the Heart of Europe

Sunday, October 2, 2022, 7:30 PM

  • Sunday, October 2, 2022, 7:30 PM
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During the oratorio concert Poland and Germany Together in the Heart of Europe at the Jesuit Basilica, we will hear – for the first time in Kraków – Karl Jenkins’s famous work: Stabat Mater.

The composition for choir and orchestra is based on the 13th-century prayer Stabat Mater. Like much of Jenkins' earlier work, the work incorporates both traditional Western music (orchestra and choir) with ethnic instruments and vocals, this time focusing on the Middle East. Stabat Mater focuses on the suffering of Mary, but unlike most adaptations of the text, Jenkins uses languages other than Latin and his native English: Greek, Aramaic, early Arabic and Hebrew, which s serves as a reminder that the Western Christianity has its roots in the Middle East.

The concert is a celebration of 20 years of Kraków’s Kantorei Sankt Barbara choir and 25 years of German-Speaking Community in Kraków.

Jolanta Kowalska-Pawlikowska – soprano
Magdalena Jaworek –etno voice
Kirchenchor St. Bartholomäus Meggen
Kantorei Sankt Barbara
Pueri Cantores Cracovienses
Katarzyna Gacek-Duda – etno flute
Harald Jüngst – organ
L’estate armonico Orchestra
Wiesław Delimat – conductor

Karl Jenkins Stabat Mater

Other: free admission

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Jesuit)

ul. Kopernika 26

Built early in the 20th century to the design of Franciszek Mączyński, in its external guise the church makes reference to medieval basilicas of Kraków, and with the internal decoration – to early Christian houses of worship. It offers an interesting example of the combination of Kraków modernism with neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic motifs.

One of the largest churches in Kraków (52 × 19 m / 170 × 62 ft), it is surmounted by a 68 m (223 ft) tall tower. The church was built in 1909–12 and finished and delivered to the congregation after the close of the First World War, and it was consecrated in 1921. Welcoming the visitors is a stone sculpture of Christ extending his arms from above the main portal, a work of Xawery Dunikowski. The exceedingly colourful and atmospheric decor of the interior consists of polychrome murals, mosaics, and stucco decorations. The eye is especially attracted to the 30-metre-long mosaic frieze over the high altar presenting Polish saints and the blessed paying homage to Christ, and the nation led by their royal highnesses Ladislaus Jagiełło and St Jadwiga. Worth our attention among the other representations are the figures of St Christopher and a mounted St Longinus, piercing the side of Jesus on the cross.

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