User:Chungquanh/Voicingers

Voicingers – a festival presenting a wide range of musical genres, from jazz to folk, alternative rock, electronic, avant-garde and ethnic music, which takes place in Żory, and has also included workshops and an international competition for jazz vocalists since 2008. This festival conducts concert and educational activities in European and Asian countries, under the name Voicingers On Tour.

History
Originally the International Jazz Competition for Singing Musicians – Voicingers took place for the first time in 2008, on the initiative of Żory improvising vocalist Grzegorz Karnas. In 2011, the festival changed its motto to International Jazz Days for Singing Musicians. In 2014, due to the withdrawal of the festival’s main sponsor, the organization of its seventh edition was suspended. In 2015, the festival established cooperation with the independent Slovakian record label Hevhetia and changed its motto to Intercultural Gathering For Music, Creativity and Expression. In 2018, on the initiative of Hevhetia, the first foreign edition of the festival was organized. The Košice edition initiated a series of concerts and educational events organized under the name Voicingers On Tour – the only travelling Polish festival. Since 2019 the Voicingers On Tour festival has reached Hungary, Ukraine, Czechia, France, Latvia, Denmark, England, South Korea and China.

Contest
Started in 2008, the International Jazz Competition for Singing Musicians is one of the main events of the Voicingers festival. By 2018, the festival had received more than four hundred entries to the competition. Among the artists who appeared on the stage of the Old Town Cinema (previously the Żory synagogue) and the Żory City Cultural Center, 190 vocalists from every continent presented themselves. The benefactor of the competition’s main financial award is the Żory City Council. In 2015-2018 the festival established an award in the form of a record release, funded by the Slovakian label Hevhetia. The International Jazz Competition for Singing Musicians is a hub of jazz vocals, a place of meetings and presentations of the creativity of artists whose skills stem from a fascination with jazz, and an improvisational performance style.

Jurors
2008 Karin Krog (Norway), Jorgos Skolias (Poland), Pascal Anquetil (France) 2009 Grażyna Auguścik (Poland), David Linx (Belgium), Paweł Brodowski (Poland) 2010 Marek Bałata (Poland), Anna Serafińska (Poland), Alex Kogan (Ukraine) 2011 Gabor Winand (Hungary), David Linx (Belgium), Filip Łobodziński (Poland) 2012 Patricia Barber, (USA) Lars Danielsson (Sweden), Thierry Quénum (France) 2013 Christina Zavalloni (Italy), Noam David (Israel), Hülya Tunçag (Turkey) 2014 Festival didn't take place 2015 Pascal Anquetil (France), Bruno Amstad (Switzerland), Jan Sudzina (Slovakia) 2016 György Wallner (Hungary), Tommy Caggiani (Italy), Anatol Ștefăneț (Moldova), Jan Sudzina (Slovakia) 2017 Tamas Bognar (Hungary), Anna Serafińska (Poland), Sergiy Grabar (Ukraine), Jan Sudzina (Slovakia) 2018 Sofia Ribeiro (Portugal), Elchin Shirinov (Azerbẹjan), Krzysztof Gradziuk (Poland), Zsolt Hernádi (Hungary), Gao Ping (China), Jan Sudzina (Słovakia) 2019 the contest didn't take place

Started in 2008, the Żory Jazz Stage Vocal Workshops were initially targeted toward those interested in vocal jazz, and vocal improvisation enthusiasts. Together with the festival’s evolution, the approach of its organizers to education changed as well. Self-development workshops for vocalists and instrumentalists, based on the experience of improvisation, became the primary element of the Intercultural Gathering for Music, Creativity and Expression – Voicingers, and the Voicingers On Tour festival. As part of the festival’s main edition in Żory, and some editions of Voicingers On Tour, Artistic Workshops for Children are also organized, as well as photography workshops for professionals.