Please note that this event is a matinee – doors will open at 2pm and the show will start shortly after.

This concert will be a presentation of various musical genres, including seasonal chants, lyrical love songs, and psalms. You will hear various musical styles and forms: from archaic heterophony and monody, to polyphony with most sublime harmonies. This time, we will sing mostly about love.

EAST WARSAW ensemble has been singing traditional music together since 1999, when the members of the group first met, united by their fascination for the ancient Ukrainian traditions. They have been learning various singing styles from the lecturers and pedagogues from Moscow Gnesini Akademy and Tchaykovsky Music Conservatory, including the members of Ukraininan group Drevo.
 
“We sing mainly a cappella, with full, open voices, and we aim at preserving traditional ways of singing. In our repertoire are one of the most archaic ritual chants, lyrical love song with full, polyphony church-like sounds, as well as more contemporary drinking songs. Apart from exploring musical archives, our main source of repertoire are field expeditions. And it is the direct contact with local singers, their stories, their suggestions, that inspires us the most”.

EAST WARSAW ensemble has organised and taken part in various cultural projects in Poland and Ukraine; in 2014 its new album was released, containing unique Russian field recordings and East Warsaw studio session. Recently the group participated in big concerts with Polish repertoire (concert in the Royal Castle in Warsaw at Mazurkas of the World festival, as well as in the Warsaw Ethnographic Museum). Moreover East Warsaw ensemble had many times performed in Poland (including festivals: Crossroads Festival in Krakow, Mazurkas of the World in Warsaw, Songs of our Roots in Jarosław, The Oldest Songs of Europe festival in Lublin), and abroad (in Kiev, Rivne, Moscow, Petersburg, Paris, Odense in Denmark, and London – Pushkin House and Cafe Oto).