The programme performed by the participants of the 46th Oratorio and Cantata Music Interpretation Course with the festival ensemble and Marta Niedźwiecka includes fragments of a work by Antonio Caldara, a master of the Baroque era.

Caldara was born in Venice around 1670. He started his career as a chorister in the St Mark Basilica in his hometown and there he also received his musical education. Later, he held the prestigious function of maestro di cappella at the court of Ferdinando Carlo di Gonzaga-Nevers. He was also associated with the courts in Barcelona and Rome. For the last twenty years of his life, until his death in 1736, he was associated with the imperial court in Vienna, where he worked as a deputy Kapellmeister. He was one of the most recognizable artists of his time. His vocal and instrumental works were especially popular. He wrote over seventy operas, more than thirty oratorios, twenty masses, as well as other pieces such as motets, cantatas, madrigals and sonatas. The Apollo in cielo is a one-act work from 1720, which was staged for the first time in Vienna. The libretto was written by Pietro Pariati, an Italian poet. This piece is in fact a serenade. In the 18th century, serenade denoted short compositions that were an intermediate form between an opera and a cantata. The concert, during which fragments of Apollo in cielo will sound, will be an opportunity to enjoy the music by this outstanding composer, whose works are rarely performed today and who remains one of the unjustly forgotten masters of the Baroque era.