From as early as 1982, choirs from all over the world have been performing in Poland at the largest and most prestigious eastern orthodox church music festival. The Hajnówka International Festival of Orthodox Church Music in Białystok was made a category-zero event by the Polish Ministry of Culture in 1995, which makes it an equal of the International Chopin Piano Competition and the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.

The opening concert, performed by the Polish Chamber Choir conducted by Jan Łukaszewski, commemorates the 90th birthday of Romuald Twardowski, composer, educator and initiator of the prestigious Hajnówka International Festival of Orthodox Church Music. For this reason, the organisers of the 39th Hajnówka International Festival of Orthodox Church Music decided to celebrate this important date with Romuald Twardowski’s eastern orthodox compositions.