Choir is a fast-developing professional choir set up by Passionart Association on the grounds of Krakowscy śpiewacy w hołdzie H.M. Góreckiemu (literally “Kraków singers in homage to H.M. Górecki”), a project choir that in 2013 performed the world premiere (recording and first performance) of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s 20 church songs for mixed choir a cappella discovered at the time. Released on the DUX label, the CD won great recognition. In 2014, it received a Fryderyk nomination, and was aired by Polish Radio and BBC Radio.
In 2014, as part of a Ministry of Culture programme, the choir performed Z pieśniami kościelnymi: 11 concerts with church songs throughout Poland. It was present at the Gaude Mater Festival in Częstochowa, Muzyka nad Zdrojami in Szczawnica, Silesia Sonans in Jelenia Góra (all in 2014), and the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition in Nowy Sącz under the baton of José Cura (2015). Since 2014, the choir has appeared at the Last Night of the Proms in Kraków under Daniel Smith. It also cooperates with the Academy of Music, for whom it recorded a CD with works of Igor Jankowski, Eugeniusz Popławski, Henryk Jan Botor, and Andrej Bondarenko. Notable performances include concerts with Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Włodzimierz Siedlik, the choir’s artistic director and the first performer of nearly all Górecki’s choir pieces, invites singers connected to Kraków’s best choirs and students of the Academy of Music in Kraków to work with him. The artists are selected for their vocal and interpretative craft in the specific requirements of Polish contemporary music. Thanks to this, the ensemble has developed its distinctive trait, namely a perfect and integrated sound, matched by flexibility of conscious interpretation.