Extraordinary Music Workshop 2022: liturgical music conference with Dominican Friars in Kraków, Poland, August 15-21

7 days. 300 singers and instrumentalists. 13 workshops to choose from. Programs in Polish and in English, held inside medieval walls that have witnessed 800 years of daily worship.
This summer the Dominican Friars of Kraków, Poland, are inviting Catholic music lovers from around the world to an international, week-long conference and workshop of liturgical music in the heart of the ancient capital of Poland, beautiful Kraków. Here at the Dominican Liturgical Center we believe that sacred music is a vital element of the liturgy, and we care about both its traditions and setting new directions for its organic development.

This annual event called „Extraordinary Music Workshop” gathers typically around 300 participants from Poland. Now, for the first time ever, along with the program in Polish we want to offer classes, talks and liturgies in English. Our president, Fr. Lukasz Misko OP, who spent a decade ministering at various parishes and Newman Centers in the United States, not only had these pieces of simple sacred polyphony – the hallmark of the liturgical renewal spearheaded by Dominican Friars in Poland – translated to English but also learnt the importance of proper liturgical formation, a process which enables baptized men and women to offer God the right praise and, as a fruit of that, allows them to finally „do the world the way the world was meant to be done”. Others have also experienced this unique spirit of solemnity which characterizes our music, a quality that combines reverence with profound joy. They would often describe this repertoire as simple, beautiful, dignified, and singable. You can watch a few short testimonies here:

• Dr Tim O’Malley, Theology Professor, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, U.S.A.

• Julie Bellefeuille, PhD student, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, U.S.A.

• Andrea Baldazzi, Catholic young professional, Bologna, Italy

• Aleksandra Runde, visual artist, Liepaja, Latvia

Now, it is impossible to talk about beauty and art, and community, while we have lived in the shadow of the most cruel war that Europe has seen in decades. Our primary responsibility is always to help those who suffer injustice and in the midst of horror it has been an amazing testimony to the power of human values when we saw millions of people of good will taking extraordinary efforts to support our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. In these dark times we all need ever more light. As Christians, we believe that there is one true Light that may guide our steps in the ways of peace: Jesus Christ, living and active in His Church. That is why this summer, when we seek unity and strength to face our world’s fears, we invite you to our festival of beauty and community grounded in Christ’s very life.
Registration is now open for this August 15-21 event, and you can find all the details here: www.dlc.foundation/emw.

There is yet another reason the celebrate. As it has been exactly 800 years since the first Polish Dominican, St. Hyacinth, brought Friars Preachers to Poland, we want to learn a new zeal for the Gospel from this powerful Apostle of the North. This edition’s theme is „Engendered By Fire” and here you can learn more about the connection between St. Hyacinth, hyacinth the gemstone, fire, and St. Hildegard of Bingen, an association that inspired this year’s artwork. It is our hope that learning and praying with Gregorian chant, early and contemporary polyphony, as well as with Byzantine liturgical music, will give us a powerful spiritual experience of God’s beauty and will set us on fire for carrying God’s transformative Word everywhere we live.

We, the staff of the Dominican Liturgical Center of Kraków, would be overjoyed to be your hosts this summer.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Lukasz Misko, OP, and Staff of Dominican Liturgical Center of Kraków, Poland