14 The words of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was used by the pr. Jarosław Los – rector of the Orthodox parish of . St. Apostle John the Theologian in Terespol inaugurated the 14th edition of the International Festival of East Slavic Carols:
I do not know what words and in what phrases I will tell you about our Lord’s Nativity, because on these Christmas days human speech is helpless to praise God, but if angelic mouths glorify the Birth of Christ is whether now when He reigns, or even more so we should not glorify Him with human language and whether now our celebration is greater than that, then they were astonished only by the Lord and we know Him already born, risen and king, so our celebration should be the greater, the greater the miracles we have come. We cannot praise God with weak human language, so we will use angelic praise.
14 The next, already 14th edition of the festival in Terespol took place on January 31 and February 1, 2009. The official opening and blessing for this edition was traditionally made by Archbishop Abel in the company of Jacek Danieluk, mayor of Terespol and Anna Pietrusik, the new director of the Municipal Cultural Centre. Ryszard Korneluk, the former head of the MCC retired and sat in the audience, but during this edition he was awarded by the bishop Abel. In admiring for his long-standing efforts in organizing the Festival and a huge personal commitment he received a brass statuette of carolers. Since the 10th edition, it is exclusively in the hands of the winners of the Grand Prix prize. Clearly moved and surprised, Ryszard Korneluk thanked Archbishop Abel with a somewhat broken voice for this kind and unexpected gesture. Then Archbishop Abel solemnly opened the festival with the words:
I am pleased that together with the authorities of the city of Terespol we can create christmas caroling, holidays that have a family character. Together we will listen to the best christmas carol texts and music, which will be presented by artists from 6 countries. I bless everyone, and I find the 14th edition of the Terespol caroling to be open.
Saturday – Day I
- As the first caroling began the hosts – the choir of the Orthodox parish of St. John the Theologian in Terespol. Their performance appealed to the audience, as they sang the audience award on the first day of caroling.
- They were followed by a choir of the Orthodox parish in Miedzylesie
- and then a band of singers “Lesnianki”, accompanied by the famous musician Zdzislaw Marczuk.
- Noticeable vocal progress was made by the choir of the Brotherhood of Orthodox Youth from Biala Podlaska under the direction of pr. Marcina Goscik, who presented beautiful Christmas carols of the eastern borderland.
- With a similar repertoire, but with much better sounding voices, the Orthodox garrison choir of the Brest fortress presented itself.
- Later, the stage was taken by children from the Lviv choir “Namysto”. They looked wonderfully dressed in Ukrainian folk costumes, and their caroling varied with the game of instruments.
- Similarly, a music-making family from Germany, who hosted on the Terespol stage once again, presented Christmas carols from the circle of Germanic culture.
- Jan Podoluk, conductor of the choir of the Orthodox parish in Chelm, took up an interesting arrangement of Eastern Carols. More and more choirs from year to year raise their vocal level and pleasantly surprises viewers.
- A similar impression was left by the parish choir from Koden.
- This ancient town was also represented by the children’s choir of the educational institutions. Mayor Ryszard Zan, present in the auditorium, had reasons to be satisfied.
- The ladies of the choir of the Orthodox parish in Kalnikow fell completely correctly.
- The hands themselves were to applause when the Hajduczen siblings from Torun appeared on the stage. Three siblings: Maria, Michal and Lukasz, creating “Trodion”, fantastically sang three voices well known carols of the Orthodox Church.
- Emotions and expectations grew when a very large, well-voiced and fantastically disposed choir of “Blahodar” of the Brotherhood of Orthodox Youth of the Wroclaw-Szczecin Diocese appeared on the stage. A mixed, young team properly led by a conductor sang the Grand Prix prize that day. Its award for the first time in the history of the Festival caused a lot of excitement.
- Two bands fought for the victory: the aforementioned “Blahodar” and “Solo Muzyka” from Odessa. Conductors were clearly divided equally in evaluation and voting. Two rounds of secret and a third were not helped by the overt. In the end, it was decided to award, for the first time in the history of the festival, two Grand Prix prizes.
- For the prizes, unfortunately, already unsuccessfully fought the female choir “Chord” from Bialystok
- and “Zgoda” from Brest.
- Nuns from the Orthodox monastery in Grodek, Ukraine, sang at the end of the first day, but already out of the competition. They came out wonderfully, because in addition to beautiful clean singing, they successfully showed off the game of banduras and violins.
Andrzej Boublej, artistic director of the Festival, admitted in the conclusion of the first day that he was pleasantly surprised by the number of performers, because as many as 20 bands presented themselves on stage, and a very high level of chorister preparation. For the first time, he had a dilemma with the indication of the best choir after the first day of the 14th edition.
Sunday – Day II
On the second day of the Festival there were 19 choirs and bands. Again, there was an uneven confrontation between amateur teams . from the parish of:
- Kobylany
- Slavatycze
- Horostytcie
- ceremonial ensemble from Zahorow
- children from Terespol, Lviv and Brest, and even a family from Biala Podlaska
- with professional sextet from Warsaw
- or fully professional female Kaliningrad “Legend”
- and the cathedral choir, semi-professional from Brest.
- Young choirs have big prospects: “Sacrum” from Biala Podlaska, who sang the audience award,
- great sounding “Harmonia” from III LO in Bialystok,
- or the Romanian men’s “Amadeus”, which sounded great and won the Grand Prix award.
- Choirs from the east : “Orijana” from Lviv,
- “Polesie” from Brest
- or “Hutor” have already accustomed the audience to a high level of choralism.
- The class for himself was during the 14th edition of the choir of the Orthodox Metropoly of thr Polish Army, which in the final, outside the competition, presented a rich bundle of carols of both Churches.
- In addition to choirs and vocal ensembles, they also successfully aroused volleys of laughter, ukrainian and slavc students from UMCS. Dressed in biblical costumes, they played a Great Ukrainian Christmas crib.
Summary
Andrzej Boublej, artistic director of the Festival, admitted in summary that it was an exceptionally rich Christmas caroling. Over two days, 39 choirs, ensembles and as many as 630 artists from 6 countries performed on the Terespol stage: Belarus, Germany,Poland, Russia, Romania and Ukraine.
During a dozen hours, for many too exhausting, carol marathon was made more than 140 carols and pastorals. This peculiar unique and record-breaking caroling spiritual feast will be difficult to beat during subsequent editions. And the 15th anniversary terespol caroling already on January 30, 2010.
Sponsorship
- Polish Economic Consortium in Koroszczyna
- Public Schools Team No. 1 in Terespol
- General Schools Team No. 1 in Terespol
- The Team of Reymont Schools from Malaszewicze
- Barbara and Ryszard Osypiuk from Terespol
- Jan Sikora – mayor of Zalesie municipality
- Zygmunt Litvinenko – mayor of Tuczna municipality
- Dariusz Trybuchowicz – mayor of Slawatycze municipality
- Ryszard Zan – mayor of Koden municipality
- Krzysztof Iwaniuk – mayor of Terespol municipality
- Jacek Danieluk – Mayor of Terespol
- P.H.U. “Agrostop” by Zdzislaw Androsiuk from Malaszewicze
- Jacek Szczepaniak – PGK and M from Terespol
- Driver Training Center “Auto School” – Julian Wasil from Terespol
- Regina and Janusz Jencz from Terespol
- Adam Malinowski “Krex” Ltd . . from Bielsk Podlaski
- Barbara and Stanislaw Kaluzynski – P.P.H.U. “Avena” in Koden
- Terespol City Council
- PKP Cargo S. A. from Malaszewicze
- Mieczysław Jozefczuk – “Transgas” from Zalesie
- Agnieszka Drab – company “Bard”
- Marian Wojtiuk – P.P.H.U. “Transbet”
- Alicja Majorczyk – Private Health Care Department “Medic” from Terespol
- Andrzej Makarewicz – currency exchange
- Stefan Durlej – Notary Office
- Dariusz Blocher – “Budimex Dromex” S.A.
- P.H.U. Alina Lynx
- Paweł Rudczyk – Chotylow Forest District
- Antoni Sacharuk – orchard farm from Mokrany Stare
- Jan Kukawski – Multi-branch enterprise “Akord” from Biala Podlaska
- Witold Wojtowicz – Food Economy Bank from Biala Podlaska
- Agricultural Real Estate Agency from Lublin
- Paweł Przadka – Director of the Department of Business Market Polkomtel S.A. from Warsaw
- Wladyslaw Grzelak – P.H.U.P. “Reburt II” from Terespol
- Jacek Gorecki from Terespol
- Waldemar Czarnecki – “Kufk Libra”, Marzena Andrzejuk – councillor of the District of Biala Podlaska
- Zbigniew Bijata, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski “Monter” from Terespol
- Andrzej Czubaszek – P.H.U. “Andropol” from Terespol
- Marek Bandzarzewski – Cooperative Bank from Lomazy – Branch in Terespol
- Tomasz Niedzwiedziuk – “Network Service”, “Garden Service” from Biala Podlaska
- Mariusz Slłoducha – P.H.U. “Margo”
- Alina Niedziolko from Terespol
- Czeslawa Karpiuk – florist “Markiza”
- Bartosz Chorazy – “Conkret” from Biala Podlaska
- Henryk Stec – “Compensa” from Terespol
- Roman Zientara – P.H.U. “Romex” from Malaszewicze
- Lublin Energy Companies S.A.
- Jerzy Jaworski – company “Pantera” from Terespol
- Zbigniew Galabuda – P.H.U. from Terespol
- Mariusz Koziol – P.H.U. “Info – Service”
- Ozga – “Handel Uslugi”
- Joanna Wasiluk – “Mini Delikatesy”
- Tadeusz Konaszuk – “Viking KTS” Ltd . . from Biala Podlaska
- Stanislawa Dec – jewelry store and florist “Stokrotka” Wieslaw Arseniuk
- P.H.P.i S. “Arspol” in Biala Podlaska
- Dariusz Wojtowicz – P.P.H.U. from Terespol
- PKO BP in Terespol
- Stanislawa and Stanislaw Filipek – inn “Kalina” from Woskrzenice
- Elzbeta and Jacek Pietrzyk
- Jan Kujawa – “Petrolot” from Warsaw
- Witold Wojtowicz – BGŻ branch in Biala Podlaska
- St. Onufry’s Monastery of Jableczna
- Land Council in Biala Podlaska
- Marshal’s Office in Lublin