Krakow FMF 2020 – Cinema Chorale

“Film music transcribed for voices and piano – Cinema Chorale returns with a new formula.

After this year’s inauguration of the cycle devoted entirely to choral music we decided to expand the original idea. The opening evening of the 13 FMF is marked not only by the compositions that were intended to highlight the vocal performance from the get-go, but also by the themes initially created for an instrumental ensemble or with the use of electronic instruments – reimagined and arranged to fit the occasion.

Aleksander Dębicz is an outstanding Polish pianist of the new generation. He was first presented to the festival audience during his very own Cinematic Piano concert in 2016. The composer is actually the one to whom the festival owes the name of the cycle, which since then has been continued yearly at FMF. During the Cinema Chorale concert, Dębicz, together with the choir, is going to present his compositions, inspired by the soundtracks to Blade Runner 2049, If Beale Street Could Talk and Interstellar.

We have created a direct link between the programmes of this concert and the TV Series Gala: the presentation of a moving Ukrainian piece Vichnaya Pamyat, arranged by Hildur Guðnadóttir for the use in the soundtrack of Chernobyl, as well as Martin Phipps’ composition Alleluia, known from the intro to Victoria.

The Church of St Stanislaus Kostka, the interior of which is being used by FMF for the very first time, is a modernist construction from the 1930s located in Dębniki district. During the concert, the venue will resound with renowned vocal pieces from such films as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or Edward Scissorhands. We will hear the world premiere of a suite from Aurora arranged especially for FMF by a Swedish composer Oscar Fogelström as well as a traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân used in Empire of the Sun. The programme of Cinema Chorale will be complemented with piano improvisations by Aleksander Dębicz.”