Concert featuring replica of Chopin’s piano to be staged in Warsaw

The concert will be staged by young Polish pianist Krzysztof Książek, accompanied by Collegium 1704, a Czech early music orchestra under the baton of Vaclav Luks.

The programme of the concert also includes works by Karol Kurpiński (1785-1857), the composer and conductor who conducted the orchestra in Chopin’s first performance of the F minor Concerto on March 17, 1830.

Chopin’s Buchholtz historic piano was thrown out the window during the January Insurrection against Tsarist rule in 1863, 14 years after Chopin’s death. The event occurred when Tsarist soldiers ransacked the Zamoyski Palace in Warsaw, where the instrument stood.

The idea to build a replica of Chopin’s Warsaw piano came from the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw. It commissioned Canadian-born Paul McNulty, one of the world’s best makers of historical instruments, to embark on the project. Saturday’s concert is the first time that his copy of Chopin’s Buchholz’s piano is presented to the public.

While in Warsaw, Paul McNulty will give open lectures on the project at the National Opera on March 20 and 27 and April 3. (mk/aba)