Last weekend, you could see and hear Krakofonia in Antwerp, Belgium, where we were invited by our friendly choir, Pink Noise, to celebrate their 25th anniversary together. The invitation itself resulted from our concert on the stairs of Via Tosca in Bologna’s old town during the 2023 Various Voices festival; apparently, we made such a lasting impression on Pink Noise singers and conductor that they decided to reach out to us. From that moment, a joint performance was just a matter of time. Speaking of time, it took us 17 hours by coach to arrive in Antwerp – luckily, singing our hearts out made that time fly!
Once in Antwerp, our schedule was packed: after some brief naps, we spent the first evening in the city in a meet-and-greet with Pink Noise singers and conductor, enjoying yummy vegetarian food and great conversations. The next morning was an opportunity to explore Antwerp on our own, individually or in groups. The famous Belgian waffles and fries gave us a much-needed energy boost for the technical rehearsal and then the concert and celebrations with our hosts in Schouwburg Noord cultural centre. Each choir performed two sets of songs, culminating in a joint performance of two pieces arranged especially for us: Ik wil deze nacht in de straten verdwalen by Wannes Van de Velde, arranged by Arto, Pink Noise’s conductor, and Chodź, pomaluj mój świat by the band Dwa Plus Jeden, arranged by Leonard Rizzo. The concert venue welcomed us with great acoustics, the audience - with great enthusiasm, and the Pink Noise singers surprised us with their rendition of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki's song Szeroka woda.
The following day, we performed a short programme in the MAS museum in Antwerp's historic docks, garnering attention from visitors, before we explored the museum's collections ourselves. We departed for Poland in the afternoon, satisfied and happy with our performances and the great time we spent in Antwerp.
