Argerich cancels Warsaw concert

Martha Argerich in 2007. Photo: cc/wikipedia commons/Druhlbachmuwimünchen

Argerich will be replaced in Tuesday’s performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, with the Warsaw Philharmonic under Jacek Kaspszyk, by the Russian pianist Alexander Gavriluk.

The organisers of the event say that Argerich was not able to come due to an illness. She has been a featured artist and a number one star at the Chopin and his Europe Festival ever since it was launched ten years ago, so her absence is a big disappointment for Polish music lovers.

The event is now in its final week and among the artists to appear in Warsaw are Maria Joao Pires, Dang Thai Son, Nelson Goerner, Eugene Indijc, Alexey Zuev, Clare Hammond, Inon Barnatan and Janusz Olejniczak.

The central idea of the event is to present a panorama of 19th-century European music from Chopin’s perspective, with a special emphasis on the trends that shaped Chopin’s idiom, as well as to present works that were inspired by his music.

To mark Andrzej Panufnik’s centenary year, the festival programme includes as many as 16 pieces by Panufnik, who spent the latter half of his life in Britain. (mk/jb)