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The Chopin and His Europe Festival will open with three great artists of Polish Romanticism: Chopin, Mickiewicz and Moniuszko. At the beginning, we will listen to Widma by Stanisław Moniuszko, a cantata which is a musical version of the second part of Dziady. It is a very clear gesture towards this epoch – special for our culture and celebrated this year. The work, created in the mid-19th century, is an example of the fascination with the text by Mickiewicz, an essence of the Polish interpretation of Romanticism, its realisation in non-existing, but vivid national identity of Poles – both in Polish lands and in exile. It exemplifies force and longing, it brings mystery and an element of mysticism, originating from traditional ritualism. But primarily, Widma, telling a story of one of the iconic texts of Polish literature (and at the same time one of the most distinctive Polish Romantic texts) with great music, is a priceless treasure of Polish cultural heritage. In August 2022 this work will be performed, together with another cantata by Moniuszko, Nijoła, under the baton of Fabio Biondi, who – fascinated by this composition – is shocked how Moniuszko remains a Great Underappreciated artist on stages and in concert halls of Europe and the world. After enthusiastic reception of operas, he will perform and record Widma and Nijoła with the soloists, Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir and Europa Galante orchestra.

There will be much more Moniuszko in the festival programme: we have planned two concerts with his songs, performed by Olga Pasiecznik with Ewa Pobłocka, Mariusz Godlewski with Radosław Kurek (both as part of the promotion of The Institute’s new records) and Dorothee Mields with Tobias Koch; a very interesting element connected with Moniuszko will be also present in the programme of the concerts by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Overture to Paria, and Sinfonia Varsovia, which is going to perform Moniuszko’s Pearls by Zygmunt Noskowski, i.e. symphonic orchestrations of Moniuszko’s songs.

    The programme axis of the Festival is traditionally based on Chopin’s music, whose work is the essence of the phenomenon of Polish Romanticism, emotionally being part of it. His works will be performed by outstanding pianists and great ensembles, on contemporary and historical instruments; there will be fascinating contexts as well. Etudes and nocturnes will be interpreted by Jan Lisiecki, preludes – Aimi Kobayashi, Bruce Liu will play the recital with the ‘La ci darem la mano’ Variations, which were enthusiastically reviewed at the Competition and – together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton Vasily Petrenko – Concerto in F minor, so not the one he performed at the Competition. The Concerto in F minor will be played by Kate Liu, but also… for the first time in the version for guitar, by Mateusz Kowalski and Collegium 1704 with Vaclav Luks. Cyprien Katsaris will present works by friends and pupil of Chopin’s together with extensive fragments of Don Giovanni by Mozart arranged by Bizet, recorded in a complete version for The Institute. We will also hear – performed by the Orchestra of the Polish National Philharmonic under the direction of Andrzej Boreyko – Fuego Fatuo by de Falla, the work for the stage entirely based on orchestrated music by Chopin. The piano concerto by Andrzej Panufnik will find a new interpretation by Alexander Gadjiev. The Beethoven Academy Orchestra under Jean-Luc Tingaud will perform works by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Cesar Franck and Feliks Nowowiejski. And these are only selected fragments of the rich programme… 

Undoubtedly, everyone – the audience as well as we, the organisers – is waiting for the performances of the most interesting personalities of last year’s Chopin Competition, the new elite of world pianism. In addition to the already mentioned winner Bruce Liu, Alexander Gadjiev and Aimi Kobayashi, there will be performances by Kyohei Sorita, Martin Garcia Garcia, Leonora Armellini, Jakub Kuszlik and J J Jun Li Bui – all with highly interesting programmes, featuring, in addition to Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Rameau, Liszt... We will also welcome the 2010 winner, Yulianna Avdeeva, and talented Ukrainian pianist Dinara Klinton. Alim Beisembayev, the winner of last year’s piano competition in Leeds, will also perform – for the first time at the Festival.

Other highlights of the Festival will certainly be the concerts by Maria Joao Pires (with the Basel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Trevor Pinnock) and the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and Francesco Piemontesi as well as performances by the Belcea Quartet (together and separately) and the Apollon Musagète Quartet...

    The magical world of authentic sound and ‘historically informed’ musical interpretation will be brought to us this year by pianists Kristian Bezuidenhout, Tobias Koch, Dmitry Ablogin, Tomasz Ritter, Aleksandra Świgut, clarinetists long associated with the Festival: Lorenzo Coppola and Eric Hoeprich as well as violinists Alena Baeva and Chouchane Siranossian. Internationally renowned orchestras will play: our leading ensemble of historical performance, {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, Europa Galante, Collegium 1704 and – in a very special way – the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, which has accompanied the Festival since its first edition. We will hear Henryk Wieniawski’s Concerto in F-sharp minor and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major in its original version, with Jan Lisiecki sitting at the historic piano for the first time.

And a few words about Polish music, especially one that is still little recognised, the best presentation of which is always our mission and a privilege at the same time. This year, the programme will focus on Polish Romanticism: Józef Władysław Krogulski’s Miserere (Collegium 1704), Karol Kurpiński’s Clarinet Concerto (reconstructed in a different way than last year, this time interpreted by Eric Hoeprich and The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century), August Fryderyk Duranowski’s Violin Concerto and Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński’s Duo for Clarinet and Piano. There will also be Romantic music from Germany (Winterreise with Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes), France (Gounod and Franck, whose 200th bitth anniversary is celebrated this year), the Czech Republic (Reicha, Dvorak), Scandinavia (Sibelius) and England (Elgar).

As part of this year’s edition of the Festival, over 30 concerts are planned to take place in the most important halls of Warsaw. We hope that this time the pandemic will not limit the number of the viewers and listeners that we can invite for the events. Regardless, most of the concerts will be streamed and broadcast by Channel 2 of Polish Radio.

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