Chopin festival ends in Warsaw

These were a recital by Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner and a symphony concert by the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, a Kraków-based youth ensemble conducted by Grzegorz Nowak.

The latter concert, on Wednesday evening, featured acclaimed American pianist Garrick Ohlsson as the soloist performing Karol Szymanowski’s Fourth Symphony, or “Symphonie concertante.”

Ohlsson won the international Chopin piano competition in Warsaw in 1970.

The 19-day Chopin and His Europe festival showcased more than 40 events in all --including recitals, orchestral and chamber concerts, oratorios and a semi-staged performance of Verdi's opera Macbeth – and such pianists as Chopin competition winners Seong-Jin Cho, Yulianna Avdeeva, Yundi and Ohlsson.

Other performers included Piotr Anderszewski, Szymon Nehring, Nelson Freire, Andreas Staier, Howard Shelley and Angela Hewitt.

The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Il Giardino Armonico and Europa Galante under Fabio Biondi were among the featured orchestras.

The annual festival aims to present the 19th-century European music scene from Chopin’s perspective, with a special emphasis on the trends that shaped Chopin’s individual idiom.

In addition to Chopin, the event promoted Polish composers who remain little known internationally although many say their music deserves wider exposure. These include Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, Juliusz Zarębski, Władysław Żeleński and Józef Elsner, who was Chopin’s composition teacher.

Launched in 2005, the Chopin and His Europe Festival was held for the 13th time. (mk/str/pk)