| The visit of Adam Mickiewicz Chamber Choir, Poznan, Poland under the musical leadership of prof. Krzysztof Szydzisz has been a wonderful experience for all of us, including all the people involved in organising and facilitating their sojourn in Sydney.
This is to be a tribute to all of you who have assisted me in organising this wonderful musical event in Sydney and Wollongong.
My deep and sincere thanks go, first of all, to my husband, Leszek Szymanski, and our sons, Lukasz and Piotr, who have put up with all the chaos of reorganising our day to day family routine and who have helped with driving the choristers to their respective homestays.
Boys, thank you so much for your assistance!
Leszek, my husband, deserves a special medal for putting up with one more of my "creative" ventures. You are wonderful, Leszek, and I mean it!
And it's much more than just "putting up" with the creative chaos. Leszek has taken a week off from his job and assisted me in all the nuts and bolts of moving 37 choristers all around Sydney and the whereabouts. And, similarly to me, he has been deprived of sleep during this week.
I would also like to extend a special thank you to a very special person, Ryszard Ostatek, who was supposed to be "just a driver of the biggest bus", and who has turned out to be as crazy about the choir as we all have been.
Ryszard, you have gone far beyond your "line of duty." Thank you so much for all these hours that you have spent waiting for the choir to enjoy Sydney by night. Had I known about it, I would have put my "teacher's hat" on, saying, "No way, guys, there's no Sydney by night, we all must get up at 7.00 am the next day."
And here is the most appropriate moment to thank Marysia Rosiak for all her hints and advice about how to go about organising this event. Marysia, thank you so much for sharing your experiences, for recommending Ryszard to us and for being my "Peter, the rock" when I had doubts about some practical aspects of the whole enterprise.
Photo Tom Koprowski |
Another special person who has offered his support is Dr Roman Korban, an accomplished sportsman who is also a writer and a Sydney guide. Dr Korban has volunteered to go with us on different sight-seeing tours and he has been a source of information about historical and geographical aspects of Sydney.
I would also like to mention that Dr Korban has written a book, "Australia, Ziemia Obiecana Czy Pułapka" (Australia, the Promised Land or a Trap) which we advertised during the Choir's concerts. Part of the proceeds from the sales of the book has been donated by Dr Korban to the Choir to cover their expenses in Australia. The book is a very interesting phenomenon as it is the first book in the history of the Polish settlement written by a Polish migrant about the history of his adopted motherland.
The above group of people have been, as prof. Szydzisz said, "Sztab Generalny" of the whole enterprise (its General Headquarters).
However, the whole event would not have eventuated without the assistance of the quiet supporters - people who have opened their houses to the choristers for the whole week:
Marysia Nowak: Marysia, thank you so much for accommodating six choristers! Marysia is always larger than life!
Małgosia and Tomek Świątek and their son, Łukasz, who have helped drive choristers to different venues.
Sr Grażyna Grocławska who is as busy as Marysia, and still has offered her house to the choristers.
Ewa Grajewska, another person with a busy schedule who has opened her heart and her home to us.
Photo Tom Koprowski |
Jola and Henryk Szewczuk, Marian Tatko and his children, Amanda and Robert, Jadwiga Solka-Krajewska and Jerzy Krajewski, thank you all for your help and for taking such good care of your choristers.
My brother and sister-in-law, Mirek and Małgosia Furmaniak, who have left their home for the invasion of Poles and have escaped to South America for this week.
My dear friends from the Beethoven Choir - Mary and John Brogan, Nancy and Felix Serge and Felix's mum, Maria Zentai- guys, thank you so much for your help.
Dr Korban's friends - Teresa and Tadeusz Weston, Elżbieta and Krzysztof Kuitkowski and their son, thank you for extending your help to a total stranger who just called you one day asking to billet another stranger.
A great thank you goes to Jerzy Główka whose wife, Malgosia, has arranged the billeting and has left for Poland (prior arrangement). Jerzy, thank you for still letting us in. And Danusia and Tomek Smogorzewski, thank you for supporting Jerzy and me!
My sincere thanks also go to the two lovely ladies who have also opened their homes to the choristers - Zofia Krzyszkowska and Wiesia Szupryczyńska, although they knew that accepting the choristers meant sleep deprivation. Ladies, thank you so much!
A big thank you to Maryla Wichlinski who has driven her choristers to wherever we needed them.
To everyone who has come to the concerts, it must have seemed so simple: they have come, sleep somewhere and sing at the concerts.
It's not that simple. To make concerts eventuate has required a lot of liaising with different clubs, venues, and a lot of advertising.
My thanks go to Puls Polonii & Ernestyna Skurjat-Kozek, to Radio 2000 and Krzyś Bajkowski, to Tygodnik Polski and Józefa Jarosz, to SBS Radio i Hania Sadurska and to Express Wieczorny as well as to Andrzej Chodkiewicz who has advertised the concerts in the Australian media. Andrzej has also helped to arrange interviews with the conductor and musical director of the Beethoven Choir, Dr Steve Watson.
My sincere thank you also goes to the Beethoven Society of Australia and its Committee for inviting the Polish Choir to sing together with the Beethoven Choir at the St James Church concert and for organising it. This has been one of the most prestigious concerts presented together by the Polish Chamber Choir and the Beethoven Choir in Sydney.
TV Polonia - Ted Matkowski and Jerzy Starzyński have filmed nearly all concerts of the Choir, and the photographer, Tom Koprowski, has taken many beautiful photos. My sincere thanks.
A big thank you to the Polish Association in Wollongong that has invited the Choir to perform and that has donated money to the Choir, to Jerzy and Wanda Śmigulski, and to the ladies from the Association who have prepared a delicious meal for our Choir (for free) as well as to Mr Krzysztof Tokarz and his Salonik Literacki and to Mr Józef Pastrovic for his donation.
A sincere thanks also goes to the Organising Committee of Tydzień Kultury Polskiej in Ashfield, especially, to Basia Henclewska, Janusz Nawrocki and Lucjan Romanowski for their assistance and for feeding our choir as well as to pani Teresa from the Ashfield Club Restaurant.
A big thank you to the Marayong Committee, especially the ladies who have prepared a meal for our choir and to Zofia Kossakowska, rev. Antoni Dudek and rev. Zbigniew Pajdak, and to two elderly ladies (unfortunately, I do not know their names) from the retirement village who have donated money to the Choir.
Thank you to the Polish Education Commission in Australia for sponsoring a meal for the Choir.
And, to both PECA and the Polish Educational Society in NSW, for assisting with advertising through schools - Elżbieta Cesarska, sr Grażyna Grocławska, Marysia Nowak i Basia Potaczała.
And last but not the least - Mr Stanisław Tremtiaczy and my dearest friend, Elżbieta Bajorska. Mr Tremtiaczy has opened his home to the invasion of Poles - he has offered to arrange a barbecue for all of us. How daring! My dear friend Elzbieta together with Mr Stanisław did the shopping for the barbecue and later "slaved" preparing meats, salads and other treats for 80 people! Elżbieta, without your work we would not have had any food at the barbecue. It was very brave of you to take it upon yourself as it was for pan Stanisław to organise tables and chairs for this indecent number of people. Mr Stanisław, you must have nicked all the tables and chairs from all your neighbours in the street.
Also, a big thank you to pan Stanislaw for inviting Aboriginal performers, the group called, "KOOMURRI", who not only played and danced for us but also presented an interesting information about Aboriginal customs and involved their audience in interactive artistic activities. Highly recommended.
Thank you SO MUCH to all of you for your assistance. Without you, this event would not have materialised.
Bożena Szymańska
Polish Education Commission in Australia
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