This playful neon art, portraying a flock of colourful nightingales sitting on a five-line music staff and lighting up in rapid succession, has been installed on the facade of the Philharmonic to honour its "Poznań Nightingales" choir. Founded in the early days of WWII by a nineteen-year-old named Stefan Stuligrosz, the men's and boys' choir initially staged underground performances in Poznań churches as an act of resistance against Nazi occupation. After the war they were taken under the wing of the Philharmonic, with Stuligrosz acting as the choir's artistic director as well as the president of the Poznań Music Academy. The neon was created in 1974 by Antoni Rzyski and symbolises Stuligrosz (the yellow nightingale at the bottom of the staff, whose light doesn't flicker off) and his singers. It's worth to note that the Poznań Nightingales are of no relation to the Polish Nightingales, another Poznań choir which has been implicated in a horrific child abuse scandal - just in case you were wondering.
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