Report of the visit by Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music

Wait­ing for the guests…

 

The first atten­dees arrive and sign the vis­i­tors’ book.

 

The arrival of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

 

Their Royal High­nesses were wel­comed by HM Rec­tor, Vice Rec­tors, Head of the Stu­dents’ Asso­ci­a­tion and the Chancellor.

 

Their Royal High­nesses speak with the students.

 

At the recep­tion held in the Gama club, the Royal Cou­ple spoke with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the polit­i­cal, eco­nomic and cul­tural circles.…

 

.…as well as with our University’s stu­dents who per­formed on the FCUM stage later in the evening.

 

Prior to the begin­ning of the con­cert the Guests and politi­cians, even those from oppos­ing polit­i­cal camps, shared a friendly chat, prov­ing the rec­on­cil­ing power of music.

 

Once the Royal Cou­ple joined the audi­ence, the British and Pol­ish national anthems were performed.

 

Dur­ing the for­mal wel­come by HM Rec­tor and dur­ing the con­cert itself no pho­tographs were allowed, as required by the visit pro­to­col. A rather regret­table inter­dic­tion, as pho­tographs of such a pres­ti­gious event would have been for the Uni­ver­sity a valu­able way to doc­u­ment the evening.

In a sur­pris­ing ges­ture imme­di­ately after the con­cert, the Royal Cou­ple approached the evening’s per­form­ers in the foyer with spon­ta­neous con­grat­u­la­tions. This unplanned and kind con­ver­sa­tion led to a sig­nif­i­cant exten­sion of Their Royal High­nesses’ visit schedule.

 

Before leav­ing the Uni­ver­sity the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Corn­wall signed the vis­i­tors’ book.…

 

… and said their good­byes to HM Rec­tor, Pro­fes­sor Stanisław Moryto.

 

The pres­ti­gious event will for a long time remain in our mem­o­ries. We hope that the visit and the superb per­for­mance by our stu­dents has left a last­ing impres­sion on the Dis­tin­guished Guests. We also trust that this expe­ri­ence will encour­age them to fur­ther sup­port the University’s work aimed at the devel­op­ment of the Pol­ish musi­cal culture.

 

photo Sła­womir Mal­iszewski
© Sła­womir Mal­iszewski & Fry­deryk Chopin Uni­ver­sity of Music