The Lira Singers

The Lira Ensemble

INTER-ETHNIC CONCERTS

Perhaps the most important work of the Lira Ensemble is its outreach concerts with and for other American ethnics - Latinos, African-Americans, and American Jews - which Lira has performed for many decades.

MEXICAN-AMERICAN/POLISH AMERICAN CONCERTS

The Lira Ensemble, a (501)(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation of the state of Illinois, is the nation's only professional performing arts company specializing in Polish music, song, and dance and is artist-in-residence at Loyola University's Lake Shore Campus in Chicago. Lira is the outreach arts organization of the Polish-American community of the Chicago area.

Lira, which is in its 40th season, has a long history of successful outreach to several ethic communities. Outreach events have included Jewish Americans with the cooperation of the American Jewish Committee, ongoing Mexican-American/Polish-American concerts which were created with the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum of Chicago, and African-American/Polish American concerts which was initiated with the Archdiocesan Office for Peace and Justice in 1998.

In February of 2001, the Lira Ensemble was presented the Human Relation Award of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations in recognition of this work. As you can imagine, it is quite unusual for a performing arts company to receive such a distinction.

Lira's Mexican-American/Polish-American concerts feature the Cuerdas Clasicas String Ensemble of Mexican-American men and women who sing and play traditional Mexican stringed instruments and Lira's female vocal group, the Lira Singers. These 90-minute performances are given in spring as a joint celebration of Cinco de Mayo and May 3rd/Polish Constitution Day, the most important civic holiday in the Polish-American community. These two major ethnic holidays are not only proximate on the calendar, they also celebrate the same thing - the cause of the common people against the unjust powers of the world. These spring concerts feature Polish and Mexican patriotic and folk music.

The cross-ethnic concerts are also given at holiday time, featuring beautiful Mexican and Polish carols, because Christmas is the most important family holiday in both cultures. The narration during both spring and winter concerts reminds the two communities that they have far more in common than they realize, that their histories as a people are surprisingly similar, that their immigrant experiences and their goals here in Chicago are much the same.

The purpose of the concert is to create an open atmosphere of acceptance and mutual respect through a culturally sensitive presentation. Both Mexican Americans and Polish Americans have a tradition of good music and respond to music well presented. The concerts evoke a spirit of understanding and acceptance, a setting for the healing that so sorely needed by neighborhoods wounded by cross-ethnic violence, schools troubled with ethnic gang warfare, and a city often torn apart by ethnic misunderstandings.

Is the best that admission to the concerts be free, so the families, young people, and senior citizens can attend (and they do). It is very important that the concert be followed by a reception at which members of the audience meet the artists and each other. Even a simple reception will do. It is just an excuse for people to stay and talk, because they will want to after their experience during the performance.

This concert has been performed very successfully in the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana for the past twelve years and continues to draw praise from both the Latino and Polish-American communities and from outside observers.

Since the Lira Ensemble is a recognized charity, donations toward the Mexican-American/Polish-American concert are tax deductible. The ensemble will provide a receipt for tax purposes.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN/POLISH AMERICAN CONCERTS

Lira's African-American/Polish-American concerts feature the NGOMA Group of African-American men and women singers and instrumentalists and Lira's female vocal group, the Lira Singers. These 90-minute performances spotlight various kinds of African American music, including spirituals, gospel, and blues, and present Polish and Polish-American folk, religious and patriotic music. The concert narration reminds the two communities that they have far more in common than they realize, that their histories as a people are surprisingly similar, that their experiences and their goals here in Chicago are much the same.

The purpose of the concert is to create an open atmosphere of acceptance and mutual respect through a culturally sensitive presentation. Both African Americans and Polish Americans have a tradition of good music and respond to music well presented. The concerts evoke a spirit of understanding and acceptance, a setting for the healing that is so sorely needed by neighborhoods wounded by cross-ethnic violence, schools troubled with ethnic gang warfare, and a city often torn apart by ethnic misunderstandings.

It is best that admission to the concerts be free, so that families, young people, and senior citizens can attend (and they do). It is very important that the concert be followed by a reception at which members of the audience meet the artists and each other. Even a simple reception will do. It is just an excuse for people to stay and talk, because they will want to after their experience during the performance.

This concert has been performed very successfully in the Chicago metropolitan for the past five years and continues to draw praise from both the African-American and Polish-American communities and from outside observers.

Since the Lira Ensemble is a recognized charity, donations toward the African-American/Polish-American concert are tax deductible. The ensemble will provide a receipt for tax purposes.