Participants Universitas Cantat 2026

Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir, POLAND
Conductors: prof. UAM dr hab. Joanna Piech-Sławecka, prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Szydzisz

Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir

 https://choir.amu.edu.pl/

The Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir, directed by Prof. Krzysztof Szydzisz and AMU Prof. Joanna Piech-Sławecka, Ph.D., has been bringing together students, alumni, and anyone who appreciates choral music and wishes to develop their musical skills for over 30 years. The choir performs a diverse repertoire, including works from all eras of classical music in the broadest sense, as well as choral arrangements of popular music. It performs both a cappella and in vocal-instrumental settings. It has twice won the Grand Prix at the prestigious Legnica Cantat National Choir Competition and has also been a laureate at festivals in Międzyzdroje, Llangollen (United Kingdom), Malta, Vienna, Busan (South Korea), and Oslo. It has performed in the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Spain, Ireland, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Malta, Germany, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, the Vatican, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and Italy, as well as in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Australia, and South Korea. Among the ensemble’s several albums, the most notable are: “Tobie i sobie śpiewam” (2003), “Piosenka jest dobra na wszystko. Piosenki Starszych Panów” (2005), “Florilegium” (2007), “The Spirit of Tango. Misa a Buenos Aires” (2014), “Tworzeni dźwiękiem” (2017), and “Muzografia” (2022). The choir has developed its distinctive sound through systematic and methodical voice training under the guidance of Prof. Krzysztof Szydzisz – a choirmaster, musicologist, speech therapist, cultural manager, and judge at Polish and international choral competitions. The ensemble’s second conductor is AMU Prof. Joanna Piech-Sławecka, Ph.D. – a choirmaster, speech therapist, oboist, and, since many seasons, a consultant and vocal coach for theater projects. The AMU Chamber Choir is actively involved in the University life, performing at concerts and academic ceremonies. The choir has performed at events for St. John Paul II, Orhan Pamuk, and Al Gore, among others. The ensemble organizes the International Festival “Universitas Cantat” at the Adam Mickiewicz University on a recurring basis; since 1998, over a hundred choirs from around the world have performed in concert halls across Greater Poland as part of this festival. The UAM Chamber Choir creates complete concert programs featuring, among other genres, Latin American, Jewish, Klezmer, jazz, and folk music, as well as Argentine tango, concerts featuring choral arrangements of texts by Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, and Marek Grechuta, as well as the choral performance “Kupalnocka, mała nocka” which is an artistic reconstruction of Slavic Kupala Night rituals, featuring music by Zuzanna Koziej. .

SINGERS

prof. UAM dr hab. Joanna Piech-Sławecka

Joanna Piech-Sławecka – conductor, choirmaster, oboist, speech therapist, voice production coach. She is associated with the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where she studied oboe in the class of prof. Krzysztof Wroniszewski and conducting in the class of prof. Janusz Stanecki (graduation with honours). She has also completed postgraduate speech therapy studies at the Higher School of Humanities and Journalism in Poznań. Since 2002 she has been affiliated with the Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir, currently holding the post of the ensemble’s second conductor. She is also a professor at the AMU Faculty of Pedagogy and Arts in Kalisz, where she teaches a conducting class. She is a co-founder and the conductor of a project-based choir Provocalis and the artistic director of the Sanctimonialis autem femina soloist ensemble performing Polish baroque pieces written for female voices, found in post-Benedictine libraries. Dr Piech-Sławecka also works as a consultant, vocal trainer and choirmaster in theatre projects, most important of them being “Hymn to love” directed by Marta Górnicka performed at the most significant European stages, including Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy. Besides, she cooperates with the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, working on the spectacle “Still life”. Joanna Piech-Sławecka organizes concerts for the International Festival of University Choirs "Universitas Cantat” hosted at Adam Mickiewicz University and is the Vice-Director of the festival since 2009. She is also President of the AMU Chamber Choir Friends' Association.

prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Szydzisz

Choirmaster, musicologist, vocal pedagogy specialist, speech-language therapist and a cultural manager. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of Lublin (musicology), Academy of Music in Poznań (Faculty for Vocal Performance and Acting) and of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (Choral Conducting). He completed a post-graduate course in ensemble voice production at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz and participated in specialist courses for conductors in Slovenia, Denmark, Austria, Germany, the USA and Poland. In addition, he had the opportunity to take part in Eric Ericson's master classes. He also obtained post-graduate certificates in cultural management (School of Cultural Management, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), higher education management (Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University, Cracow), speech-language therapy (Special Pedagogy Department, Adam Mickiewicz University) and MBA in Higher Education Management (postgraduate studies) – Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Poznań University of Economics).

Krzysztof Szydzisz works at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he heads the Department of Voice Production, established in 2004. He teaches at numerous workshops and courses for academic teachers, speech-language therapists and choral conductors. Moreover, he is a vocal consultant for many choir ensembles at home and abroad. He served as a music consultant for the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat for the 2013-2015 term. He is also a member of juries at a variety of national and international choir competitions: Legnica Cantat, Canti Veris Praga, IFAS Pardubice, Advent and Christmas Music Festival Praga, Folk Festival in Bratislava, Tonen 2000, World Choir Games, European Music Festival for Young People – Neerpelt, International Choir Festival and the International Choir Festival “Per Musicam ad Astra” in Toruń and others. Since 1998 he has been director of the International Festival of University Choirs Universitas Cantat in Poznań.

His ensemble, the Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir, has given concerts on five continents and in over twenty countries, including Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Ecuador, France, the Czech Republic, Greece, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Peru, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA. Together with the choir he won the first prizes of national and international competitions. He takes interest in a diverse repertoire, 19th to 21st century European choral literature being the most prominent area. As the conductor of the AMU Chamber Choir he has won a number of honourable mentions and awards.

  Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, POLAND