The NFM Choir from Wrocław places Penderecki and French composers side by side, creating a dialogue between Polish and French music of the 20th century, between the singers from Wrocław, where the choir is based, and French conductor Lionel Sow, who has been in office since 2021. The program opens with Le Chant des chérubins by Krzysztof Penderecki, a piece composed in 1986 based on a text from Orthodox liturgy. This is followed by a composition by French composer Yves Daniel-Lesur, a twelve-part Cantique des Cantiques from 1953. With his Stabat Mater, completed in 1962, Penderecki took a stand against the communist system and its deep-rooted atheism, but also against Western avant-garde circles, who were equally uninterested in the sacred. With Nigra sum by composer and mezzo-soprano Caroline Marçot, who is passionate about Renaissance music, we leap forward to the 2000s. The simplicity and contemplative nature unite Poulenc's Salve Regina from 1941 and Penderecki's Agnus Dei, composed forty years later. Both can also be found in Olivier Messiaen's O sacrum convivium from 1937.