About our choir

The vocal and instrumental ensemble Medici Cantares was founded on the 11th of December 2011 as an official cultural representation body of the Bydgoszcz Medical Chamber. The choir consists of doctors, medicine students, representatives of other medical professions and other music lovers. The team is thriving, counting nowadays over 60 people.     Medici Cantares has been regularly performing at the Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, giving concerts at the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, the Grand Theatres in Warsaw and Poznań and many other renowned stages across Poland. The choir’s wide repertoire includes Christmas carols, but also classical music and popular music and patriotic songs.     For many years, our activities have focused on the concerns of patients, whom the choir members meet as doctors in their professional life. Medici Cantares regularly creates the arrangements of the greatest pop music hits, in which we refer to difficult aspects of social life and taboo topics like pandemic, depression or people with visual impediments. Our work is published on the YouTube channel, as well as our other social media sites (Facebook, Instagram).     Since 2014, the choir’s conductor has been Captain Joanna Krause, a graduate of the Department of Conducting at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz and the Commander-Conductor of the Military Orchestra in Toruń.     Medici Cantares regularly participates in various choir festivals and competitions and in 2023 has been recognized with:     Golden Band award for the 1st place in the category of mixed choirs during a National Choral Competition of Christmas Carols and Pastorales in Chełmno (Poland).     Golden Band award for the 1st place in the mixed choirs category, special award for the best performance of a piece by a Polish composer and the special prize for the best conductor of the festival during the 10th International Festival of Sacred and Passion Music in Szczecin (Poland).     Silver and Bronze Band awards at the 12th edition of the International Choir Festival “Canco Mediterrania”, held in Barcelona/Lloret de Mar (Spain).     Silver Band award during the 35th International Festival of Religious Music in Rumia (Poland).