You are invited to the 2024 Extraordinary Music Workshop with the Dominican Friars of Krakow, Poland! Join us for this week-long experience of learning and praying liturgical music in English in a gorgeous medieval priory founded by St. Hyacinth over 800 years ago. The dates are July 8-14, 2024. Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details. Registration is now open here!
Our program includes learning choral music from different periods, including singable yet reverent contemporary Polish Dominican polyphony, as well as plainchant and Byzantine chant, to give you a flavor of how chant works in different Christian traditions. Our faculty include: Rev. Innocent Smith, OP, PhD, Washington DC, U.S.A., Elena Bird Zolnick (St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.), Rev. Robert Mehlhart, OP, PhD, President of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome, Italy, Rev. Dawid Kusz, OP, PhD. Daily activities include chanted Divine Office, spirituality talks and many opportunities to explore the rich history of Krakow.
We offer choral music workshops for two skill levels: 1) Beginner / Intermediate: some degree of musical training / choir experience is required but the repertoire is simple and even people who do not sight read music can easily learn it (here is an example); 2) Advanced / Professional: we welcome people with degrees in music or with an extensive choral performance experience: while they will still sing the simple “Polish Dominican” SATB repertoire at daily Mass, they will devote most of their practice time for more advanced pieces (here is an example).
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See the 2023 edition
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The program offered in English is incorporated into a larger Polish-language event, attended annually by over 300 people. This creates a unique opportunity to raise your heart and voice with what may be the largest choir you have ever sung in, but more importantly it gives a sense of unity of the Church gathered to worship from so many places around the world. We hope you will join us in Krakow next summer!
See what our participants said about the 2022 edition:
All around a fantastic experience – even though we were very busy, it was a great way to pack a ton of learning into a short amount of time. I hope to be able to return next year, but even if I can’t I will be advertising the workshop to all my musically-inclined friends.
Peter
United StatesI spontaneously signed up for this workshop after hearing about it from Dominican friends and I am so pleased I did: it was enriching, mentally, spiritually and musically. I want to say a big ‘Thank You!’ to Fr. Lukasz and team for their heroic work in the preparation and execution of this week, for it surely required tremendous effort from many people. However, as we know, it’s team-work to get into Heaven and in this regard, it was a great joy to be united in prayer and song with so many other good souls – surely a foretaste of Heaven!
Aoífe-Maria
IrelandI found the workshop intense (in a good way) and fun. Well worth the time investment. I would definitely come again.
Emanuel
RomaniaI absolutely loved the week of workshops, meeting beautiful new friends, meeting Dominicans, who I have never had any opportunity to meet in Australia, and just being around like-minded Catholic individuals. I loved how the friars wished to spend time with us outside of our workshops, and I feel to have created a wonderful bond with the international group. I am SOOO grateful to have had the opportunity to come to Krakow. I feel it was a real God send! Thank you so much!!!
Grace
AustraliaYou can download our poster here and share it with your community or friends.
Become a Patron of Extraordinary Music
If you cannot take part in this year’s workshop, but you fell in love with the idea, we ask you to support the organization of the event. Every penny counts!