The Mystery of the Passion of the Lord
On Saturday, March 9, at the Church of St. Stanisław Kostka in Greenpoint, whose parish priest is Father Grzegorz Markulak, hosted the concert “Passion and Resurrection” from a series of Lent programs prepared by the Theater and Opera Society THEOS. “Passion and Resurrection” is a poetry and music recital with elements of Greek theater, which combines beautiful Polish Lent and Easter poems with Polish songs. Combined with classical works by Pergolesi and Schubert in Latin, it aims to evoke reflection on the Passion of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. For several years now, it has become a permanent part of the parish’s calendar of events and is very popular.
The show begins with Jesus’ prayer in the Garden and presents the subsequent stages of Christ’s passion and suffering, and ends with His Resurrection. We heard, among others, poems by Roman Brandstaetter, Ernest Bryll and Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński. Everything was interspersed with passion songs from different periods. The whole thing is enriched with a multimedia presentation of texts using paintings by famous painters such as Caravaggio and Rubens.
Three people take part in the performance: Kasia Drucker, who sings with a piercingly beautiful, strong soprano that captures the drama of Greek theater, Anna Kucay, who beautifully recites poems, and the accompanist, David Alan Jaymes, playing the piano. All three of them work together perfectly on stage, creating a moving image of the Passion of Christ, completely involving the audience as living witnesses of his betrayal by Judas, suffering, death and resurrection.
Kasia Drucker sang in the Poznań Philharmonic and Operetta and at the Grand Theater in Poznań. In the USA, she sang with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, and performed at the Polish Embassy and the Kościuszko Foundation in Washington. He also sings in churches, as a cantor and at benefit concerts, opera and oratorio-cantata repertoire.
Anna Kucay, actress, singer and poet, has been associated with the Opera and Operetta stage in Szczecin for 20 years. After coming to New York, she performed in the Cabaret “April Fool’s Day”, which she co-founded. She staged two plays: “Hanka” about H. Ordonówna, where she played the main role, and “Maria and Magdalena” about M. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska.
David Alan Jaymes, graduated from Julliard School of Music. He is a professor in the field of Media Arts & Engineering. He has recorded over 100 albums, including 7 gold and 3 platinum. He received many prestigious awards, one of them is the Emmy Award for MTV. He works with many great artists, including: Emmy, Tony and Grammy nominated Broadway star N’Kenge. He has been an organist in many churches for over 50 years.
Multimedia setting – Tadeusz Nowak, who has been singing in the “Krakus” choir for years and since 2022 has been permanently cooperating with “THEOS” as an actor and technical assistant.
The entire program was created and directed by Kasia Drucker.
The beautiful interior of the church added drama to the performance, which was very warmly received by the large audience.
Text and photos: Zosia Zeleska-Bobrowski
