Meeting with the family Pilpani (Nanila) from Georgia more than 10 years ago was a very important experience for Teatr ZAR. The name ZAR origins form the title of the georgian funeral song. Family Pilpani once again will visit Wroclaw, bringing with them a beautiful musical tradition.

Another artist very close to our work is Natalia Polovynka, who has taught our actors ukrainian irmoses. You could recognise them during Anhelli. The Calling performance. On VoicEncounters apart from the concert she has also led workshops Earth – Song which were presentation and introduction to the work on the phenomenon of songs in contemporary theater. According to Połowynka, a traditional song is the principal foundation, a living canon, which gives birth to any musical genre.

For sure you know the work of Marianna Sadovska from the Caesarean Section in which she has cocreated musical dramaturgy. This time she has presented to the Wroclaw audience her own repertoire during the concert Night is just starting

We came across groups of Sardinia and Corsica during our expeditions in search of local musical traditions. Music from Sardinia and Corsica, is an important element of Anhelli and Caesarean Section scores. Cunfraterna di a Serra and Cuncordu de Orosei have led a two-day workshop with polyphonic singing, and then they’ve presented their skills during evening concerts. We’ve hosted a total of four groups from Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily.

At the seminar devoted to the voice there has had to be a place for Vahdat sisters from Iran and Aram and Virginia Kerovpyans. As you know they has cooperated with us for several years working on Armine, Sister. During VoicEncounters you will also meet groups of musicians from Istanbul and Cairo (tradition zar). They are the inspiration for our new project called Medies, which has premiered later during Theatre Olympics Performances of musicians has taken you into the world of women’s stories sung with joy and sadness in the mountains of Anatolia and the endless plains of Egypt.

The seminar has been accompanied by a presentation of Armine, Sister performance. Twenty fourth of April has marked the one hundreth first anniversary of Medz Yeghern – Armenian Genocide. Our performance tells the story of events forgotten by the history books, it’s a letter from sister, who was a witness to human tragedy and cruelty. With this spectacle we want to return her own voice.

Voice Pedagogy conference has fulfilled the whole picture, it has been a place where practitioners and theorists together has presented various social and cultural contexts of human voice. During the event Jaroslaw Fret with Jorge Parente has talked about finding his roots through song and the vocal identity.

You can find the complete program of VoicEncounters here.