The event featured an 11-minute choral piece, Totus Tuus (Totally Yours), composed by Górecki in 1987 for Pope John Paul II's third pilgrimage to his native Poland.
The work, inspired by the pope’s motto dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, draws from a poem by contemporary Polish writer Maria Bogusławska.
The piece was performed in Paris by 150 young singers from the Maîtrise de Notre Dame choir.
Totus Tuus ranks among Górecki’s best-known choral pieces.
The famed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has reopened to the public more than five years after a fire devastated the iconic landmark. Photo: EPA/TERESA SUAREZ
Born in 1933, Górecki was one of Poland’s most prominent 20th-century composers. In the 1990s, the recording of his Third Symphony, written 20 years earlier, achieved unprecedented international success.
Górecki’s honours included the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish state distinction, as well as numerous honorary doctorates from universities and music academies across the world.
He died in 2010.
(mk/gs)
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Agnieszka Bielawska.