Let the Music Begin

This year's International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music is underway, with concerts planned throughout the summer weekends at a variety of churches around Zakopane. The masters Bach and Mozart will feature strongly in this year's programme, alongside music from a huge variety of other composers, performed by instrumentalists from Germany, Canada, Hungary, Ukraine and, of course Poland. Among the beautiful venues for the concerts will be the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, the Church of the Holy Cross, and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal - so it's a great opportunity to see the city's ecclesiastical treasures too. The festival began life in 2001, as the International Organ Music Festival. Every year since it has been a keenly-awaited feature on the Zakopane calendar, changing its name this year. It is the brainchild of Witold Zalewski, organist at Wawel in Krakow.