‘Chopin and his Europe’ festival kicks off in Warsaw

Press materials

The programme included works by Chopin, Thomas Tellefsen – a Norwegian composer and pianist who was Chopin’s pupil in Paris between 1844-47 – Karol Szymanowski and Wojciech Kilar. Pianists Alexander Mielnikov, Peter Jablonski and Dejan Lazic were the soloists.

The programme of the two-week festival comprises 30 events: recitals, orchestral and chamber concerts, a semi-staged opera performance (Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte) as well as jazz concerts and films.

Featured artists include world-renowned pianists Martha Argerich, Yulianna Avdeeva (First Prize winner of the 2010 Chopin Competition in Warsaw), Maria Joao Pires, Dang Thai Son, Andreas Staier, Alexey Zuev, Tobias Koch, Jorge Luís Prats, Clare Hammond and Inon Barnatan.

Some of the concerts include period instruments, including two Erards (1838, 1849) and a Pleyel (1838). The central idea of the event is to present a panorama of the 19th-century European music scene from Chopin’s perspective, with a special emphasis on the trends that shaped Chopin’s individual idiom, as well as to present works that were inspired by the music of the Polish composer.

In line with its motto – ‘From Chopin and Grieg to Panufnik’ – the programme includes a selection of works by Andrzej Panufnik, the Polish composer who was born 100 years ago and spent the latter half of his life in Britain.

The news of the death of the Dutch conductor Frans Brüggen, who passed away in Amsterdam on Wednesday, has been received with a profound sadness by Polish music lovers and the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, the main organiser of the Festival.

Brüggen and his Orchestra of the 18th Century was a featured ensemble at the Chopin and his Europe Festival since its inception, also being billed this year. (mk/jb)