“Nie rzucim ziemi skąd nasz ród” [We Shall Not Abandon the Land From Whence We Came] – A series of concerts held under TSKŻ’s auspices to commemorate the Year of Maria Konopnicka

July 19, 2022

To celebrate the Year of Maria Konopnicka, Teatr Otwarty in Gdańsk will be hosting a series of free concerts under a common title: “Nie rzucim ziemi skąd nasz ród” [We Shall Not Abandon the Land From Whence We Came]. The five concerts will feature old songs which used to be popular at Polish households, and which accompanied the Poles during major historical events and which have eventually become crucial national symbols, mementos of the past or a moving testimony of specific historical periods.

Alongside the patriotic songs, the concerts’ programme will also include the works of two major Polish composers of the era of Romanticism i.e. Frédéric Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko.

Apart from Chopin and Moniuszko, the concert audience will also get a chance to listen to the works by other Polish composers representing the late Romanticism, such as Zygmunt Noskowski, Stanisław Niewiadomski, and Feliks Nowowiejski who composed their musical accompaniments to Maria Konopnicka’s poetry.

Some of the concerts will be accompanied by the poetry written by the most outstanding Romantic poets i.e. Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Kornel Ujejski who used to be frequently referred to as “the last great poet of Romanticism”.

The project will also include some lectures devoted to the role of Dąbrowski’s Mazurka in the Polish national tradition, or heroic attitudes of Jews who fought for the independent Poland. One of such Jewish heroes was Władysław Rawicz (we have just celebrated his 190^th birthday anniversary) – a civil commander of the Podlasie Region who took part in the January Uprising.

The hosts of the event which commemorated the Year of Maria Konopnicka try to emphasise the fact that the poet and writer, just like many other leading representatives of the Polish positivist literature, insisted that the Poles should open up to the Jewish community, make them part of the Polish society and offer them the same rights as the ones enjoyed by Polish citizens, and disallow antisemitism.

 

Dates & Venues & Titles of Concerts:

17^th July 2022, 7.00 P.M., Suwałki –Saint Alexander’s Cathedral
“A jak poszedł król na wojnę” [When the King Has Gone to a Battle]  – An Opening Concert

Performing Artists:
Marlena Borowska – soprano
Monika Dyngosz – mezzosoprano
Jacek Szymański – tenor
Wojciech Dyngosz – baritone
Dariusz S. Wójcik – bass / poetry reading
Franciszek Lewandowski – piano
Ewa Stąpór – a foreword on the music

Programme of the Concert:
19^th and 20^th century songs based on poems by Maria Konopnicka, popular patriotic songs and M. Konopnicka’s poems

17^th July 2022, 12.00 noon, Suwałki – The Regional Museum

“Good Morning” – Midday Concert for Children and their Parents

Marlena Borowska – soprano
Dariusz S. Wójcik – bass/ poetry reading

Franciszek Lewandowski – piano

Programme Highlights:
“Four Seasons of the Year” by Zygmunt Noskowski, lyrics by Maria Konopnicka

20^th July 2022, 7.00 PM, Białystok – The Town Hall
“Poland is Not Dead Yet”

Jacek Szymański – tenor
Dariusz S. Wójcik – bass/ poetry reading
Rafał Sulima –  piano
Marek Cichucki – poetry reading

The programme includes:
anthems, hymns and poems of tribute

23^rd July 2022, 7.00 PM, Łapy – Holy Cross Church
“123 Years on the Margins of the World”

Małgorzata Trojanowska – soprano
Jacek Szymański – tenor
Dariusz S. Wójcik – bass/ poetry reading
Maria Kozłów-Ratke – violin
Agata Oriana Kwas – cello
Rafał Lewandowski – piano

The programme includes:
popular patriotic songs, art songs, piano music, 19^th and 20^th century poems

29^th July 2022, 7.00 PM, Suwałki – 1^st and 2^nd Degree State School of Music in Suwałki
„Mieć w miłości kraj Ojczysty” [Being in Love with the Motherland] – the Closing Concert

Katarzyna Gierla – soprano
Jacek Szymański – tenor
Przemek Piskozub – baritone
Dariusz S. Wójcik – bass / poetry reading
Rafał Lewandowski – piano
Ewa Stąpór – a foreword on the music

The programme includes:
songs and piano pieces composed by Frederic Chopin, songs and arias by Stanisław Moniuszko and romantic poems devoted to the love of the homeland (by A. Mickiewicz, J. Słowacki, C. K. Norwid, K. Ujejski)

More details available at:

https://www.teatrotwarty.pl/index.php/startowa/404-maria-konopnicka-2022.html

 

PROJECT PARTNERS:
1. Emil Młynarski’s Suwałki Music Society
2. Podlasie Region Museum in Białystok
3. Regional Museum in Suwałki
4. 1^st and 2^nd Degree State School of Music in Suwałki
5. St. Alexander’s Parish in Suwałki
6. Holy Cross Parish in Łapy
7. The Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland