In 2019, we celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Union of Lublin – the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the annexation of Podlachia by the Crown. Political unification shifted the range of influence of the western circle of European culture towards East, which was also reflected in sacred music, whose sounds united Europe and stimulated artists’ aspirations.

During the concert, you can hear instrumental and vocal-instrumental compositions created in the mainstream of the Venetian school, whose formal assumptions (polychoriness) inspired the artists, becoming the basis for the development of concert music. The musical axis of the program are pieces by Mikołaj Zieleński, whose work gained fame at home and abroad (“Offertora et communiones totius anni” were published in 1611 by the Venetian printing house of Jacopo Vincenti). Also today his works are very popular.

The compositions of Zieleński and other creators of this period will be presented spatially, based on the architecture of St. Wojciech church. The concert will become a spectacle in which the sound experience will be highlighted with light, scenography, candles, appropriate display of the interior and church murals. In the sound layer, its program was arranged as a reconstruction of the 16th / 17th century mass for St. Wojciech, the main patron of Poland, whose history is also presented on the apse of St. Wojciech church in Białystok. The concert will end with a motet about the patron saint of Poland, St. Stanislaus, and “Magnificat” by M. Zieleński for 12 voices.

The event is co-organized and co-financed by the National Centre for Culture