SING TO THE LORD: PRAISE GOD WITH SONG IN POLAND

The minium registration requirements for this tour have not been met and it has been cancelled!

GOAL

To provide a combination singing and sightseeing vacation, organized especially for the amateur chorister who wants to perform sacred music in some of the finest late Gothic and Baroque churches in Warsaw, Krakow and other sites in Poland while at the same time experiencing the beauties and magic of these cities and the surrounding countryside.

DATE

SUMMER PROGRAM: July 2, 2009 - July 14, 2009

TARGET GROUP:

Members of church and community choirs, their families and friends, seeking an aesthetic, fun-filled and affordable holiday in one of the most beautiful areas in Central Europe.

MUSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

There are no auditions. All who register as singers will be members of the choir. However, in order to achieve the musical objectives of the director and to ensure personal satisfaction, those enrolling as singers should be able to read music, have current or recent choral or solo singing experience, and be comfortable singing serious sacred music in Latin, English, and Polish.

REPERTOIRE:

At this time, the major works selected for 2009 are:

MISSA BREVIS ET SOLEMNIS IN C  K.  259 -  W.A. MOZART
ADORAMUS TE - MIKOLAJ ZIELENSKI
BENEDICIMUS DEUM COELI - MIKOLAJ ZIELENSKI
EUNTES IBANT ET FLEBANT - HENRYK GORECKI

This is a preliminary selection. The final selection of repertoire is to some degree dependent on the enrollment. Other repertoire will be added.

MINIMUM REGISTRATION:

40 Singers. In order to ensure a good musical balance, competent amateur singers from Poland, the Czech Republic and neighboring countries may be invited to join the choir and participate fully in the rehearsals and the tour. For 2009, the organizers are hoping to recruit at least 50 singers.

Spouses, partners, children and friends are welcome on the tour. However, non-singers need to be aware that the tour is built around the rehearsal and performance schedule of the choir. Every effort will be made to plan complementary events for non-singers during the time that the singers are rehearsing.

CONCEPT:

When amateur singers tour they usually do so as members of an existing ensemble. However, many singers are members of choirs, which, for a variety of reasons, do not travel. This program allows individual singers to make the decision to tour. Participants arrange and pay for their own transport to Warsaw and from Krakow as they would for an individual vacation. They arrange surface transport to a designated hotel, in which accommodation has been booked for them to their specifications. At this point, they become members of a touring musical ensemble, joining other singers from various communities who share a love of choral music.

The music for the tour is distributed in advance; the cost is included in the registration fee. Singers are expected to do extensive individual preparation prior to starting the trip. For the first few days of the trip, between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, singers rehearse the repertoire. Afternoons and evenings are spent sight seeing or relaxing. During the tour, participants will have a chance to hear many fine free or modestly priced concerts in the locales visited.

Once the first performance is given, shorter additional rehearsals may be scheduled at the discretion of the Musical Director. All performances will be in churches and cathedrals. The performances will be either concerts or worship services. The venues and performance dates are guaranteed; the size of the audience is not.

At the end of the tour, people overnight in Krakow for the last evening of the tour and will depart the following day either to return home or continue their vacation.

SPONSORING AGENCY:

Club Tours Agentur - Prague's oldest and most experienced organizers of cultural tours in Central Europe.  Check out their website: www.choirs.cz.  By dealing directly with Club Tours, North Americans can be sure of a quality musical and tourist experience at substantially less cost than one would normally pay for this kind of tour.

MUSICAL DIRECTION:

Mr. Michal Svarc of Club Tours Agentur is pleased to confirm that Mr. Peter Dent of Galiano Island, BC will continue as Musical Director. www.peterdent.com. Mr. Dent has conducted musical ensembles on several tours of the Central Europe. He has developed a close working relationship with Club Tours Agentur. Mr. Dent is well known in Canada as both a choral conductor and a jazz musician. In 2002, Mr. Dent’s former Choir, the Pacific Singers of Vancouver received the highest mark in its category during the inaugural Prague International Folk-Song Festival. In each of the previous six summers, Mr. Dent has led over 40 Singers from Quebec to British Columbia in "Sing to the Lord" tours. As she has since the beginning of the program, the organist/accompanist for the program will be Ann McNamee, Director of Piano Studies at the Edna Manley for the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica.

COST:

SUMMER 2009

300 Canadian Dollars (Cdn) - paid at the time of Registration.

960 Euros paid on July 2, 2009 upon arrival in Warsaw.
(Given the volatility of the world economy, we are quoting the major part of the tour in Euros. It gives the tour organizer more stability in planning the tour. Please note that at present, the Polish currency is still the Zloty.)

Cost includes hotel, breakfast and either lunch or dinner with complementary beverage, tour transportation, the services of a certified guide, special events, concert venues and organization.

OPTIONAL TOUR:

As has been his custom over the last 4 years, Michal Svarc is offering a very attractive week-long optional tour at the conclusion of the singing tour. This year the destination is Russia. Costs for this tour are over and above the base price of the singing tour. Please contact cta@iol.cz for details and prices.

REGISTRATION: