Otton Mieczyslaw Zukowski (1867-1942)
Ave Magne Rex Coelorum

Piotr Kusiewicz, ténor
Marta Wroblewska, soprano
Pawel Pecuszok, ténor
Aleksandra Pawluczuk, mezzo-soprano
Przemyslaw Kummer, basse-baryton
Dawid Zarzycki, piano

Otton Mieczyslaw Zukowski spent most of his life in Czerniowce, where he acquired general and musical education. After studies in Lwów and in Vienna, he became a “suplent” in the state-run teachers college in Czerniowce. Between 1906 and 1911 he was a Polish teacher: initially in the teachers college, and later in a state-run secondary school. His works, vocal as well as instrumental, in addition to quite numerous transcriptions of his own and other composers’ songs for different scorings, had as their source Zukowski’s strong convictions which could be expressed in the two following words: patriotism and faith. Therefore Otton Mieczyslaw sacrificed his artistic achievements on the altar of the fight for free and independent Poland, for the place of Polish in the public life, for the historical awareness of the Poles and for the respect for the beliefs of the fathers and the Catholic faith.