• Polish Radio Choir axed

News came through last night that Polish Radio, as feared, has confirmed the announced disbanding of its world-renowned Choir. Despite widespread protests from within and outside Poland, including a belated online petition, the choir, numbering over 30 members, will cease to exist in a few months’ time.*

To say that this is regrettable is an understatement. The Polish Radio Choir has a distinguished history stretching back over 60 years, notably of giving premieres of music by Polish composers, including that by Gorecki and Penderecki. The choir has been one of Poland’s most effective cultural ambassadors and it will be sorely missed.

There is, apparently, an outside chance that it might survive if the Ministry of Culture, Polish Radio and the regional government in Krakow can agree some sort of rescue package for the choir outside its current ‘home’ at Polish Radio. But the last of these three bodies has already turned down this proposal once, so this cobbled-together idea seems most unlikely. A sad day.

* I wrote a couple of weeks ago in more detail about the likelihood of this happening.  See my post of 1 March 2012.