Warsaw Choral Festival “On the Royal Route”
NEWSROOM
Media coverage of the Warsaw Choral Festival “On the Royal Route”
The festival’s artistic director Roman Rewakowicz and his colleagues deserve genuine congratulations. Both the idea and the choice of time in which the festival was held should be rewarded. Sacred music, both ancient and from later eras, fills one with reflection and brings relief to the emotions evoked by the annually renewed debate surrounding the Warsaw Uprising and the date of August 1. Listening to sacred music can become a kind of artistic experience that is naturally close to meditative concentration, a desire for inner order, the distance between the spheres of the sacred and the profane that is so often impossible to achieve.
Jerzy J. Kolarzowski
I Warszawski Festiwal Chóralny i Ensemble Organum Marcela Peresa
http://kulturaliberalna.pl/2009/08/10/kolarzowski-i-warszawski-festiwal-choralny-i-ensemble-organum-marcela-peresa/
The four programs proved to be solid lessons in the history of ensemble singing. This is an obvious value of the festival On the Royal Route.” And how were the artistic impressions? There was a lot of beauty in the performances of both choirs, especially in the delightful pianissimos, melting into the spaces of the churches. (…) The artistic clou of the festival turned out to be the performance of Pérès with his ensemble. (…) The six singers made the audience literally freeze. (…) The music of the Middle Ages in such a performance is well suited to Gothic architecture. The Old Town Cathedral is a beautiful example of Mazovian Gothic, simple and austere (…); it has a large space nicely filled with sound, and it is perfectly compatible with religious music. May it be as often as possible with such wonderful as on that memorable August evening!
Krzysztof Ulucz
Magia średniowiecza na Królewskim Trakcie, Ruch Muzyczny, 6th of September 2009
Last evening, the entire Warsaw Basilica of St. John the Baptist, full of people, went somewhere far into the past for almost two hours… Not a fly sat down, not a church mouse squealed, no one coughed even during the breaks between parts, the silence was ringing all the way. And again we were immersed in the singing, which mesmerized, but also relaxed in its own way. (…) Ensemble Organum sings just like that: naturally. Although the artistry and dexterity of the singers is audible, that’s not what you think about when listening to them. Especially since they don’t try to embellish the timbre of their voices. Marcel Pérès himself, by the way, does not have a beautiful timbre at all, he sings rough and scratchy, a bit flat. It’s as if a serial monk were singing. And yet when you hear all those ornaments, melismas, you know it’s a big art. Pérès has a great deal of knowledge, which, combined with incredible musicianship, results in an alloy that is unparalleled.
Dorota Szwarcman
Podróż przez stulecia, http://szwarcman.blog.polityka.pl/, 2nd of August 2009
(…) A vocal trio from Salento, consisting of: Anna Villani, Maria Mazzotta, Carla Maniglio. The three amiable young girls from southeastern Italy presented a program based on religious and mendicant repertoire, which has survived to this day, despite the various influences of modern times. Traditional folk songs, performed for several voices, according to the Salentan folk tradition – beautifully echoed in the hall of the lower church. In the manner of singing we could admire the unique technique of polyphony. Songs of a contemplative and meditative nature appealed to the audience. The audience listened to the unique concert, rewarding the artists with a big applause.
Tercet z Salento na Ursynowie
13th of August 2009
http://www.passa.waw.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5555&Itemid=184