Report on the activity of the Chórtownia Foundation for 2016
Boredom, as usual… but seriously – we are proud of what we have done together last year!In 2016, within the framework of the foundation the following activities were implemented:
- Running the Chórtownia web page at: http://chortownia.org
- Realisation and conclusion of the „RECORD US” competition
- Moldavian choirs’ concerts in Zabrze
- Polish-Armenian-Moldavian Choir Project “In terra pax”
- Participation in „Canco Mediterranea” Festival and Pau Casals Choir Contest in Lloret de Mar in Spain (13-18 September 2016)
- Action called “Choral songs of mass destruction”
- Announcing the album project “Treasures of Music: Armenia”
- Establishing and supporting the KLASTER Mixed Choir
- Popularising the World Choral Day (7th December) in Poland
- Collaboration with the Śpiewak Śląski magazine
- Patronage
1. Running the Chórtownia web page at: http://www.choral.art.pl
It is a permanent activity of the foundation. The page’s statistics for the period of 1st January – 31st December are as follows:
The page was visited 73347 times by 49447 users who viewed 232555 subpages.
The visitors came from 101 countries, the Top20 of which were: Poland (91%), then the following in the given order: UK, Belarus, USA, Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Moldavia, Canada, Bulgaria, Sweden, Belgium, Georgia, Denmark, Norway and others.
By the end of 2016 the page had:
- 6230 users from 25 countries
- 956 choirs (including the 100 choirs which updated their profile data)
- 534 festivals (including 87 new ones)
- 186 choral scores (including 36 new ones)
- 1364 choral concerts (including 158 new ones)
- 953 news reports (including 140 new ones)
Besides, a monthly newsletter called “Chórtownik” is being edited on a regular basis and sent to all of the users of the page. It is mainly in Polish, but occasionally, it is translated to English and Russian.
2. Realisation and conclusion of the „RECORD US” competition
In November 2015, an online competition called “RECORD US” was announced. Its aim was to choose a winner through an online poll from those choirs, that would post their recordings on YouTube. They were to be awarded with a recording of their own album. The competition consisted of 2 stages – the entries for the first selection could be sent until the end of 2015 – 11 entries were sent, 6 of which were chosen for the 2nd stage of the competition. In 2016, there was an online poll, which ended on 20th February 2016, and in which 18294 votes were cast.
The winner of the competition was
Lege Artis Chamber Choir from Cracow. They were awarded with a recording of their own album. The award was founded by DTS Studio Mobile Recordings from Cracow. The choir had already finished their recordings – they had performed the choral covers of Grzegorz Turnau’s compositions in arrangement of Andrzej Borzym.
The second place’s award, founded by Studio B1 from Gliwice, was won by Laetitia Cantus Teacher’s Choirfrom Zabrze – an album with Christmas carols sung by this choir was recorded in the summer of 2016.
The interest in this competition was greater than we dared to imagine – the voters were not only from the choral environment, but also from a wider audience. Thanks to the competition, the Polish choral music was shown to the people who have not heard of it before (what can be noticed by a thorough study of the argumentation of the online jury).
The competition reached outside of Poland – some of the comments are written in foreign languages (English, Russian, French). Comprehensive argumentation of the jury’s choice was sent to the choirs (each of the choirs got corresponding argumentation).
The results of the competition: http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6100&jezyk=1
The main award was handed by the chairperson of the foundation during the 10th anniversary concert of the Lege Artis Chamber Choir, which took place in Cracow on 10th June 2016.
3. Moldavian choirs’ concerts in Zabrze
In March 2016, Poland was visited by Moldavian choirs who were invited by the Chórtownia Foundation and the International Festival of Passion Songs in Szczecin. Poland was visited by 45-people group representing the following choirs:
- “Rapsodia Moldova” Chamber Choir
- E. Doga School of Music Choir from Chisinau
- “Melodia” singing group from the GHIOCELL Community Centre
Within the framework of the “Together in the 21st century” project, the group participated in the concert tour, during which they visited Ukraine (Pochayiv, Lviv), Gdańsk, Sopot, Szczecin, Berlin and Zabrze. The main event of the tour was the festival in Szczecin. Further, they travelled through Berlin to Zabrze, where the chorus singers met their families, and where a passion concert was organised. The concert took place in St. Andrew’s Church at Holy Tuesday and the co-participant was the “Laetitia Cantus” Teacher’s Choir from Zabrze.
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6133&jezyk=1
4. Polish-Armenian-Moldavian Choir Project “In terra pax”
In collaboration with our partner – Armenian Choral Conductors' Association (ACCA), which acts very dynamically not only in Yerevan, but also on the whole area of Armenia – within the framework of the project the following events took place:
30.04.2016
– Workshops with youth choir in Ijevan, led by Natalia Barabanszczikowa – a conductor and an art director of the Rapsodia Moldowa Choral Studio in Chisinau and a youth choir of the same name. Natalia worked with choir singers from Tavush Children Choir, whose conductor is Christina Sheroyan.
1.05.2016
– A gala concert and Polish and Moldavian music workshops within the framework of ACCA Sunday Choir.
The concert, in which three choirs from Yerevan participated, took place in a beautiful chamber hall of the Aram Khachaturian Museum. The performing choirs were:
- Ave Maria Choir conducted by Artashes Baburian
- Khazer Chamber Choir conducted by Ani Navdasaryan
- Narek Chamber Choir conducted by Narine Davtyan
Workshops within the framework of ACCA Sunday Choir were also led by Natalia Barabanszczikowa. She was a replacement for Izabela Zielecka-Panek who, together with Harmonia Choir from Cieszyn and Ad libitum Choir from Pszów, didn’t make it to Armenia and came to a halt in Georgia.
A more comprehensive report in Polish:
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6178&jezyk=1Information in English:
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6160&jezyk=1
5. Participation in „Canco Mediterranea” Festival and Pau Casals Choir Contest in Lloret de Mar in Spain (13-18 September 2016)
Chórtownia participated as a special guest in a festival in Lloret de Mar. After the festival, a comprehensive report was published at http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6246&jezyk=1
6. Action called “Choral songs of mass destruction”
In consultation with the editor-in-chief of the Śpiewak Śląski magazine, Andrzej Wójcik, an action called “Choral songs of mass destruction” was announced on the Chórtownia’s forum. Its aim was to find songs which, alongside “Gaude Mater Polonia”, could enter the “iron” repertoire of every Polish choir. The information on this subject can be found in Śpiewak Śląski as well. Read more on this subject at http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=forum&fid=3772
7. Announcing the album project “Treasures of Music: Armenia”
In October 2016, a project named “Treasures of Music: Armenia” was opened. The project included the release of an album with Armenian choral repertoire sung by choirs from various countries. The album was to be released by Chórtownia. For the needs of the competition, the conductors were provided with helping materials (links to the songs and records library) and consultations with the Armenian project coordinator, Christina Sheroyan. The album is due to be released in 2017.
An invitation to the project:
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6299&jezyk=1
Link to the helping materials:
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6419&jezyk=1
Press release:
http://www.choral.art.pl/index.php?vaction=newsy&rodzaj=aktualnosci&nid=6430&jezyk=1
8. Establishing and supporting the KLASTER Mixed Choir
The first rehearsal of the KLASTER Mixed Choir took place in Gliwice on 18th November 2016. Its premise was to gather ex-choristers of various choirs and music schools from the Silesian agglomeration with a view to run an amateur musical activity. Dr Barbara Gajek-Kraska was nominated the conductor of the choir, whereas Tomasz Jamrozik was the assistant conductor. By the end of 2016, there were three rehearsals in which the number of participants approximated 30 people (some of the people who enlisted for the audition were rejected). Currently, the choir’s rehearsals take place in Zabrze on Fridays from 18:30 to 21:00 in a building belonging to the DEMEX company which lets them a room for free.
9. Popularising the World Choral Day (7th December) in Poland
The World Choral Day was not celebrated in Poland until 2014. In agreement with International Federation of Choral Music, the foundation conducted an informational campaign, the result of which was an announcement of a 3 World Choral Day celebration concerts in the following cities: Wrocław and Grudziądz (the access to the event search engine is at http://www.worldchoralday.org/events/view).
10. Collaboration with the Śpiewak Śląski magazine
In 2016, under an agreement between Chórtownia and Śpiewak Śląski, all the issues of the magazine were made available to the readers. They were downloaded 371 times in the given period.
11. Patronage
In 2016, Chórtownia was a patron of the following events, for example:
- Cantat viWAT – the 1st Polish Nationwide Choral Festival, 14.04.2016
- “Per Musicam ad Astra” – the 4th M. Kopernik International Contest and Choral Festival in Toruń, Chełmż and Inowrocław, 18-24.06.2016
- “Music Everywhere” – 3rd Polish Nationwide Festival of Modern Choral Music, 28-30.10.2016
- CARMEN FIDEI – 3rd International Contest of Sacred Music in Łomża, 30.09-2.10.2016
- A jubilee concert for the 10th anniversary of 441 Hz Chamber Choir from Gdańsk, 18.06.2016
- Celebratory Symphonic Concert which topped out the Polish-German summer artistic youth exchange. The participants of the exchange were the members of Landesjugendorchester, a youth symphonic orchestra from Bremen, and choirs from Gdańsk: “441 Hz” Chamber Choir and “Cantilena” Youth Choir from the F. Nowowiejski General School of Music in Gdańsk, 1.08.2016