On December 19 and 20, we invite you to a Christmas Carol Evening performed by the Orchestra, Choir, and Children’s and Youth Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic.

The concert program will feature the most famous Christmas carols arranged by Andrzej Makal and Marcin Nagnajewicz’s Little Christmas Cantata, a piece created on the initiative of Ewa Barbara Rafałko, conductor of the Children’s and Youth Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic. As the composer himself says: The basis for telling the story of the birth of Jesus were Polish canticles, pastorals, and carols, most of which are contained in a small book that I received from my great-grandmother, Janina Pyszniak, when I was a little boy. The melodies and lyrics, which were meticulously collected there, have accompanied me for most of my life. Arranged by me, they form a logically dramatic whole and lead the listener from the moment the shepherds are moved by the news of a special event that befell them on a certain memorable night, through Herod’s dilemmas and his dramatic decision to murder all the little children, to the blissful finale giving hope for the eternal triumph of goodness and love. The above – in my arrangement for a children’s and youth choir and a small symphony orchestra – is maintained in a sound that refers here and there to the achievements of contemporary classical music and broadly understood jazz and folk music.

We cordially invite you to join us in experiencing beautiful moments in the joyful anticipation of Christmas.