Participants Universitas Cantat 2015

Academic Choir of the Stanisław Staszic State Higher Vocational School in Piła, Poland
Conductor: Karol Urbanek

Academic Choir of the Stanisław Staszic State Higher Vocational School in Piła
 http://chor.student.pwsz.pila.pl

The Academic Choir of the Stanisław Staszic State Higher Vocational School (PWSZ) in Piła was established in 2003. The ensemble takes an active part in the cultural life of Piła and of the whole province. It performs during the most important events of the school, home town and northern Wielkopolska. So far the ensemble has given 130 concerts.

In 2010, at the invitation of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the choir toured the USA and gave concerts, among others, in New York City and several cities of Connecticut. It performed as special guest at the Chamber Music Mystic 2010 Festival. The concert was recorded and published as a promotional album of the school.

In years 2007-2012, together with soloists and orchestras, the enesemble had been performing large musical works, including Requiem d-moll (KV 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mass G-major by Franz Schubert, Stabat Mater by Karol Szymanowski and Coronation Mass C-major (KV 317) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That was also a time of fruitful collaboration with the accomplished violinist and conductor Adrian Sylveen Mackiewicz from the USA and with the Polish orchestra conductor Janusz Przybylski.

The choir has participated in national and international competitions. In 2005 and 2006 it performed at the International Choir Festival in Olomouc, Czech Republic, winning bronze medals. In 2013, the ensemble appeared at the International Festival of Choirs and Orchestras in Calella on the Costa Barcelona, whilst in 2014 it gave a concert at the International Festival of Choirs and Orchestras in Tuscany. In both of these events it received a Gold Diploma in the category of Choral Art. The extensive a cappella repertoire of the choir includes works from different epochs, stretching from Renaissance music to contemporary music of different nations.

Since the ensemble's formation it has been conducted by Karol Urbanek, head of the Fryderyk Chopin State Music School Complex in Piła. Karol Urbanek graduated from the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where he studied in Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński's class. He is also an arranger, composer, accompanist and organizer of many artistic events.

  Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa im. Stanisława Staszica w Pile, Poland