Three concerts with a wide-ranging programme of contemporary, Renaissance and Baroque compositions will be offered to British audiences on 8, 10 and 11 November 2022 at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London’s Trafalgar Square, famous for its superb acoustics and wide range of musical events.

The Joy & Devotion Festival will be opened on 8 November with a concert by the Polyphony Choir, under the direction of Stephen Layton, dedicated to St John Paul II and his legacy. The evening will begin with ‘Agnus Dei’ by Wojciech Kilar, a moving prayer for peace from the year 2000. The ‘Missa Sancti Papae Ioannis Pauli Secundi Magni’, composed by Pawel Lukaszewski to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of St John Paul II in 2020, will be performed for the first time in the UK.

The Gesualdo Six choir, under the direction of Owain Park, will perform on 10 November works dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to whom Polish composers have paid musical homage over the centuries. The highlight of the concert will be the world premiere of “Missy” by Marek Raczyński, an outstanding representative of the young generation of Polish composers, author of many vocal-instrumental works and chamber instrumental forms. The evening’s programme will include the British premiere of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s 1986 song in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baroque composer Bartłomiej Pękiel’s ‘Ave Maria’ and Aleksandra Chmielewska’s ‘Salutatio angelica’, which will be interwoven with solo organ works by Marian Sawa and Michał Schaeffer, performed by Rupert Jeffcoat.

On 11 November, the Festival will conclude with an evening of early and contemporary music performed by the young choristers of the Rodolfus Choir under the direction of Ralph Allwood. During the concert, works by a representative of the younger generation of composers, Jan Krutul, and one of Poland’s most distinguished Baroque composers, Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, will be performed for the first time in the UK.

Adrian Andrzejewski