On the eve of the 4th Sunday of Advent, 18/12/2021, in the Dominican Basilica of the Holy Trinity, a concert “Open up heaven” was organised by our Foundation in cooperation with the Dominican monastery in Krakow as part of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the arrival of the Dominicans to Krakow.

The initiator and artistic director of the concert was a permanent collaborator of our Foundation, composer and conductor Fr. Dawid Kusz OP. – In our Krakow Basilica, every year during Christmas Midnight Mass we can hear beautiful arrangements of Christmas carols, and during the Easter Vigil – songs of the Easter period – says Fr. Dawid. – Advent repertoire has not yet received a musical setting and, I am convinced, it deserves it – adds the composer.

However, “Open up heaven” was not only a concert: the idea of this evening meeting was to combine savouring new, choral and orchestral arrangements of Advent songs with the possibility of singing and praying together. And so, we could hear several compositions and arrangements written by Fr. Dawid for the Advent workshops organized in Wroclaw by the Wroclaw Liturgical Vocal Study, such as Rorate cæli, Maranatha or O, Mario, czemu pobladłaś (Oh, Mary, why did you turn pale). There were also made three new compositions, which were created for the concert, and which were based on famous Advent songs: Open up heaven, Veni, veni Emmanuel, Urząd Zbawienia Ludzkiego (The Patronage of Man Salvation).

These songs were performed in two different ways – first in the “liturgical” version, which was joined by all the audience gathered in the Basilica, and then in new, expanded and artistic arrangements performed by the Sancta Trinitas Chamber Choir and the orchestra. The assembled line-up of 24 singers and 19 instrumentalists allowed the composer to build a monumental sound, which evidently captivated and enthused over Advent joy both the large audience and several hundred people participating in the live broadcast.

The project was under the honorary patronage of Witold Kozłowski, Marshal of the Malopolska Voivodeship and was implemented with the financial support of the Malopolska region. We are also grateful for the support for our series of concerts shown by the participants through the donations and contributions.

The recording of the concert is available on our YouTube channel: