The Polish National Youth Choir is an artistic and educational project for choristers aged 18-26: students of vocal faculties of music schools and conservatoires, as well as the best singers of Polish choirs. It was established in 2013 by Bogdan Zdrojewski, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, as an independent training project. Since 2015, it has been part of the Choral Academy project. It is financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and is run by the National Forum of Music. The idea for this project arose from the need to fill the gap between education at vocal departments, focused on graduates' solo competences, and education in the fields of conducting ensembles and choral singing, mainly in the context of work with amateur choirs.
In order to give a student of the vocal faculty who loves singing a chance to taste choral singing, and to make choirs realize how important it is to educate their voice in establishing a good choir, the Polish National Youth Choir was founded. Its target group is still so open to new experiences and at the same time flexible that, with consciously designed training, it is ready for an effective combination of vocal competences and ensemble singing. From the very beginning, all these activities serve to raise the level of vocational choral singing in Poland by reducing the differences between training singers and training choristers. Each edition of PNChM includes two sessions (lasting from seven to ten days) devoted to a specific topic. The sessions include quartet, sectional and tutti rehearsals, as well as tutorials, lectures and workshops, which are conducted by specialists. All these activities are crowned with a concert during which young people can present the effects of their work. One of the educational sessions is always devoted to a cappella music, and the other – to work on a choral piece prepared with a professional orchestra. A characteristic feature of the project is inviting other guest conductors and singing teachers from Poland and abroad to cooperate with each other.
Thanks to this, young people work with the greatest authorities on music. During each edition, young people also take part in concert projects. In this way, they use the knowledge gained during PNChM sessions in practice and learn to prepare themselves for a concert, and thus test themselves in the professional music world. A major advantage of the project is also its nationwide scope – both when it comes to recruiting young artists and choosing places for concerts and sessions.
