The 17th International Music Festival “Chopin and His Europe” / “Chopin i jego Europa” will be held from August 14-31, 2021. Following this year’s theme of “So far away, and yet so close… [Tak daleko, tak blisko…], in addition to the works of Chopin the Festival will emphasize the “more distant” connections of his works with the Polish baroque as well as the resonance of his music in the works of 20th-century composers.
Audiences will have an opportunity to hear masterpieces produced by Pękiel, Lipiński, Wański, Gołąbek, Gesualdo, Bach, Zelenka, Beethoven, Berlioz, Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt as well as Szymanowski, Stravinsky – on his 50th death anniversary – Weinberg, and Koczalski.
This year’s festival includes 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 and Donizetti’s 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.
Other 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 concert including both of Chopin’s piano concertos interpreted by Nelson Goerner and Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, also under Philippe Herreweghe, and Domenico Cimarosa’s Il maestro di capella with Tomasz Konieczny. There will also be special chamber concerts, including: 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; winner of the Chopin Competition, Rafał Blechacz, performing with Bomsori Kim, and the interpreter of songs of international https://festiwal.nifc.pl/plrenown, Christian Pregardien, will perform with his son Julian.
The number of artists invited to this year’s Festival also includes Yulianna Avdeeva, Benjamin Gosvenor, Alexandre Tharaud, Jos van Immerseel and Isabelle Faust, and such ensembles as the Belcea Quartet and Sinfonia Varsovia. This beloved annual Festival is organized by the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw. This year, like in 2020, most concert events will also be available as free live streams.
17th International Music Festival I August 14-31, 2021
Various Venues around Warsaw
Live stream via NIFC Facebook Page
More information: festiwal.nifc.pl
[Sources: press release, polmic.pl]