Musical Bridges is an original project of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre, prepared and carried out by Dariusz Uściński. As part of the project, five-day vocal workshops were held and two final concerts were organised in Bolesławiec and Liberec.
The workshop instructors were American soul and jazz vocalist Frank McComb, who has worked with such stars as Stevie Wonder and Prince, and Ania Szarmach, one of Poland’s finest soul singers, who works with McComb and invited him to the workshops.
The singers were accompanied during the concerts by an outstanding trio of musicians: Grzegorz Jabłoński (piano, Poluzjanci, Natalia Kukulska), Błażej Chochorowski (bass, Dorota Miśkiewicz, Renata Przemyk, Mrozu) and Wojciech Fedkowicz (drums, Leszek Możdzer, Kuba Badach, Grzegorz Turnau). Admission to the concerts was free.
On the Polish side, the workshops were attended, among others, by young singers from Barbara Lendzian’s studio (BOK-MC). Ania Szarmach rated the young people’s skills highly.
— I worked with incredibly talented people in a beautiful city — the singer said during the concert. - Thank you to Darek Uściński for the idea for these workshops and for inviting us to Bolesławiec.
The young singers and the team of professionals gave an energetic concert featuring covers selected by the young performers from the repertoires of the biggest stars, as well as original songs by Ania Szarmach and Frank McComb in excellent soul arrangements.
The aim of the project was to establish cooperation between the artistic and musical communities of the borderland cities of Bolesławiec and Liberec. The “Musical Bridges – Polish-Czech Vocal Workshops” project is co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and by state budget funds via the Euroregion Nysa.
