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Tradition / Chopin Institutions / Events / Chopin concert cycles

 

 

Chopin Concerts with Long Traditions

 

Concerts in Żelazowa Wola

The long tradition of organizing Chopin concerts in the home of the composer's birth in Żelazowa Wola dates back to more than 50 years. The first commemorative concert took place on October 14, 1894, when it was decided to erect an obelisk with Chopin's effigy at the initiative of Milij Bałakiriew. Bałakiriew - besides Jan Kleczyński and Aleksander Michałowski - was one of the concert performers. Nevertheless, only after the end of WWII were regular concerts in Żelazowa Wola organized. On June 17, 1945, a concert was held at the initiative of prof. Franciszek Krzywda-Polkowski, at which Czesław Sielużycki, a physician, pianist, author of many articles about Chopin, performed. In 1954 regular concerts began, organized by a group of pianists with prof. Zbigniew Drzewiecki at the head. Every Sunday, from May until September - at 12:00 and 15:00 the doors to the music salon on the terrace are opened, and in this way music lovers sitting on the park benches listen to music. Starting in 2006, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute assumed care of Zelazowa Wola and the concerts, which spearheaded a small concert hall in the park where year-round concerts will be held in the future.

The Fryderyk Chopin Institute, together with the II Program of Polskie Radio, is creating a new tradition of concerts. On Chopin's birthday, March 1 at noon, a Chopin recital is broadcast from the Chopin Manor House in Żelazowa Wola. In 2008 Krzysztof Jabłoński performed, in 2009 - Janusz Olejniczak.

 

Warsaw - Concerts at the Fryderyk Chopin Monument in Łazienki Park

Outdoor concerts in Warsaw's Łazienki Park at the Chopin Monument have a long tradition; their creator was Wacław Szymanowski. This monument, destroyed during WWII, was reconstructed based on photographs and technical drawings in 1958, and a year later the organization of concerts began. From May until September - a piano is brought to the monument, and at 12:00 and 16:00, artists from many countries around the world perform Chopin recitals. The Cultural Institution of the Capital City of Warsaw and the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw organize the concerts. Additionally, the Mazovia Region Center of Culture and Arts has organized a piano marathon for seven years at the monument, crowning the annual "Chopiniana" Festival.

 

Concerts of the Mazovia Region Center of Culture and Arts

The Mazovia Region Center of Culture and Arts, formed when the Warsaw Cultural Center combined with the National Concert Office and the Warsaw Artistic Office continues the initiatives of all institutions associated in the Centre. One of them was the founding of the Chopin Club during the XIII International Chopin Competition. Participants presented Chopin at chamber recitals during evening meetings. This tradition was continued at later competitions; and this will be true in 2010 when the XVI International Chopin Competition will be held in Warsaw.

The Mazovian Region Center of Culture and Arts also organizes "Chopiniana" - Fryderyk Chopin days in Warsaw, a series of concerts in places associated with the composer's life and works. They take place in the Church of the Holy Cross, where Chopin's heart rests, and at Belweder Palace, where the young composer played for the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia at a private audience, and at the Church of St. Joseph of the Visitationists on Krakowskie Przedmieście, where the young Chopin played the organ during afternoon masses for students, and also in Łazienki Park, among others at that Chopin memorial. The concert series has been underway since 2002 and takes place in the last week of July. It differs from others where Chopin is the patron. Drawing inspiration from the life and work of the greatest Polish composer, it presents a new outlook on his work. In addition to chamber and symphony concerts, there are meetings, offering for example, film evenings, plays, ballet evenings, and finally - Chopin "jazzed up". Artists appearing during "Chopinana" include Piotr Paleczny, Kevin Kenner, Ingrid Fliter, Adam Makowicz, Lora Szafran, Włodzimierz Nahorny, Leszek Możdżer along with the "Amadeusz" Chamber Orchestra of Polskie Radio directed by Agnieszki Duczmal.

 

Warsaw - "Music Floralia - Music in Flowers"

The "Music Floralia - Music in Flowers" International Festival beginning in 1996 promotes young, talented pianists, giving them the chance to appear before a wider public and also invites renowned artists. The location of the concerts is the Botanical Garden of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Powsin near Warsaw. This annual event runs from May until September. The originator of the "Floralia" is the pianist Anna Maria Stańczyk. The list of artists that have performed there includes Lidia Grychtołówna, Eugene Indjić, Jonathan Plowright and Halina Czerny-Stefańska. The concert programs are filled mostly with Chopin's compositions, but also include other romantic composers.

 

Sanniki

In Sanniki, a town located 80 km from Warsaw, in a palace from the end of the XIX century built at the place where the manor house stood, the one which Chopin stayed at in 1828 while on vacation with his classmate Konstanty Pruszak, there is a concert hall with 120 seats. In this hall the F. Chopin Society in Sanniki organizes concerts connected with poetry. They began in 1981, taking place from February to October on the first Sunday of the month, Polish and foreign artists participate in them.

 

Chopin concerts on Polskie Radio

Concerts with Chopin's music have been broadcast on Polskie Radio from its earliest years since its founding in 1925. In 1927 passages of performances from the I International Chopin Competition, and even then Polskie Radio had funded a special prize for the interpretation of mazurkas. In the schedule-guide for the radio listener for 1939 we read: "The Wednesday Chopin concerts are a part of the program designated not only for Poland, but also for the international audience. The most outstanding Polish pianists, known at home and abroad participate, among others Zbigniew Drzewiecki, Henryk Sztompka, Józef Turczyński, Stanisław Szpinalski, Zofia Rabcewiczowa and others".

After WWII the Wednesday Chopin concerts returned to Polskie Radio broadcasts. As early as July 25, 1945 at 18:45, one of the first broadcasts of the program was a concert performed by Tatiana Woytaszewska, while artists appearing in later concerts included: Zofia Rabcewiczowa, Margerita Trombini-Kazuro, Maria Wiłkomirska, Jan Ekier and Władysław Kędra. This tradition lasted for several decades. The Chopin Wednesdays were taken over in the 1990s by Program II of Polskie Radio, which in the new programme format (starting in 1991) proposes many broadcasts of concerts, festivals and Chopin competitions. The last Wednesday Chopin concert aired on Program II of Polskie Radio on September 2, 2007. Since that time, a musical-current affairs program "Chopin 2010" is broadcast on Saturdays.

Chopin concerts on Program I of Polskie Radio, still have their same place; for years they were the earlier mentioned Wednesday programs, after which the programs moved to Sunday and are currently broadcast at 23:05 (broadcast times have shifted).

The tradition of Chopin concerts broadcast from Poland to European countries, a program for international listeners, has continued since the 1950s. Initially they were part of the music block containing Polish music. Since the 1970s, separate Chopin concerts have been prepared with announcements in Polish, English, French and German. Broadcasts ended in 1991

 

Anna Skulska

English translation: Philip Stoeckle

 

 

 

 

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