Welcome! Witamy!

The Lira Ensemble is the only professional performing arts company in the United States specializing in Polish music, song, and dance. The name of the company, "lira," is the Polish word for "lyre," a traditional symbol of music. The Ensemble's performing groups present the music of Poland, sung in the original language, and Polish folk and court dances, with narratives in English. The Lira company consists of The Lira Singers, female vocal ensemble, The Lira Symphony, The Lira Dancers, Lira Piano Quintet, Lira String Quartet, Lira Chamber Chorus, and Lira Children's Chorus - "Dzieci".

Dear Friends of Lira:

The Lira Ensemble asks your help
in repairing and replenishing the company’s
excellent collection of Polish folk costumes.

Lira’s performances would be impossible without gorgeous, colorful folk outfits from various regions of Poland. They are indispensible. The non-Poles who attend Lira concerts – and there are more and more of them each year – comment on how fortunate Polish Americans are to have so rich and beautiful a folk culture as represented by the costumes.

Many of our costumes are more than forty years old.   The dancers’ garb is in especially bad shape. Their energetic dances are very destructive to costumes. Lira makes dozens of appearances a year, therefore it’s no wonder some of the costumes are falling apart.

All of Lira’s folk outfits are authentic, made in Poland, and certified by the Polish Ministry of Culture to be correct for the regions they represent.  Since the Polish economy is quickly reaching Western European standards, the costumes become more and more expensive every year.  Yet, we must preserve authenticity.

                Despite these difficult financial times,
                we respectfully ask for your generous donation
to be used to restore our costumes.

Lira has more than 550 costumes and each one has as many as twelve pieces, so we have started a multi-year project to reorganize, catalogue and computerize the costume collection. 

If you can help us in all this, you will become our partner in protecting the future of Polish and Polish-American culture in America.  Poland’s beautiful and varied regional folk outfits are one of the most appealing aspects of that culture.

The Lira Ensemble is a federally-recognized charity, so any amount you give is tax deductible, as provided by the Federal Tax Code. We will provide a receipt for tax purposes.

Please also consider a gift to Lira when updating your will.  It will be an honor to dedicate concerts to your memory or the memory of your family and loved ones.

Sincerely,

Now, you can hear audio samples of Lira Ensemble recordings on our website! Visit the "Buy Cd's and More" page where you can listen to examples of our music.