The 17th International Music Festival "Chopin and His Europe" / "Chopin i jego Europa", following this year’s motto So far away, and yet so close… (Tak daleko, tak blisko…) will be held from 14 to 31 August 2021. Besides the works of Chopin, the festival will emphasise the "more distant" connections of his works with the Polish baroque, and also the resonance of his music in the works of 20th-century composers.
We will have an opportunity to hear the masterpieces produced by Pękiel, Lipiński, Wański, Gołąbek, Gesualdo, Bach, Zelenka, Beethoven, Berlioz, Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt but also by Szymanowski, Stravinsky – on his 50th death anniversary – Weinberg, and Koczalski.
This year’s festival include a premiere of Karol Kurpiński’s reconstructed Clarinet Concerto (performed by Lorenzo Coppola and {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna), and the repeated first performance on period instruments of Stanisław Moniuszko’s opera Verbum nobile confronted against Betly. Both Donizetti and Moniuszko will be conducted by Fabio Biondi, with an international bevy of soloists, Europa Galante Orchestra, and the Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic.
The highlights of the festival certainly include the performance of Gesualdo da Venosa’s Madrigals by the supreme Choir of the Collegium Vocale Gent conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, a night with Chopin’s both piano concertos interpreted by Nelson Goerner and Orchestre des Champs-Elysees also under Philippe Herreweghe, Domenico Cimarosa’s Il maestro di capella with Tomasz Konieczny and the very special chamber concerts by the winner of the Wieniawski Competition, Alena Baeva, with Vadym Kholodenko playing among others Grażyna Bacewicz and Witold Lutosławski, and Mark Simpson’s An Essay of Love written during the pandemic, while winner of the Chopin Competition, Rafał Blechacz, will perform with Bomsori Kim, and the interpreter of songs of international renown Christian Pregardien will perform with his son Julian. Moreover, the number of artists invited to this year’s festival includes Yulianna Avdeeva, Benjamin Gosvenor, Alexandre Tharaud, Jos van Immerseel and Isabelle Faust, and such ensembles as the Belcea Quartet and Sinfonia Varsovia.
Organisers' Press Release
More information: https://festiwal.nifc.pl/pl