New Chopin Museum; El Paso Chopin Fest; Poland says No Tests on Chopin's Heart

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The Chopin Currency - May 12, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Sejm declares 2010 Year of Chopin
Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland

The Polish Parliment makes an Official Proclamation, preceded by "lively debate." And just what DID happen to the Piano in the House?

The Sejm, Polish lower chamber of parliament, has unanimously passed a bill declaring 2010 the Year of Frederic Chopin.

The vote on the bill was preceded by a lively debate. Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski stated that the primary objective would be to celebrate and popularize the work of Chopin, adding that the celebrations around the Year of Frederic Chopin, which also marks his 200th birthday anniversary, will require a certain amount of organized effort.

Zrojewski concluded in saying that some work is already in progress, like renovating the seat of the Frederic Chopin Association (TFIC) in Warsaw.

Wide-ranging preparations for the Chopin Year also include a thorough refurbishment of the manor house in Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw, the composer's birthplace, and the opening of a Chopin Centre in Warsaw.

MP Tadeusz Cymanski from the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition reminded his colleagues that there was a piano on display in the parliament's building since 1989 but it was sold last year in what could be regarded as rather unclear circumstances. Cymanski expressed hope that the instrument will return to the Sejm.

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Chopin: 10 steps to greatness
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

Coinciding with the launch of the BBC Radio 3 Chopin broadcast extravaganza - a Top Ten-type list of reasons of what makes Fryderyk so distinct:

4 Conquering the world

Chafing in Warsaw, the 21-year-old Chopin set off round Europe, pitching up in 1831 in Paris. Within a few months he was friendly with writers such as Victor Hugo, painters such as Delacroix and of course musicians including Liszt and Berlioz. All these arts were becoming more "poetic", but what Paris lacked was a "poet of the piano". Chopin was attractively melancholy, always à la mode, and had impeccable manners.

5 Being the perfect romantic

In 1832 Chopin gave his first concert in Paris. He hated the experience, and in all his life gave no more than 30. But those were enough to make him the perfect image of the romantic pianist. One critic said: "Nothing equals the lightness, the sweetness with which this artist preludes on the piano." Chopin's Nocturnes and Waltzes are the perfection of the Romantic miniature - but small doesn't mean negligible. "Guns buried in flowers" is how Schumann described them.

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Whatever Happened to Michal Baranski?
All About Jazz - Philadelphia,PA,USA

A check-in on the careers of a trio of teen prodigies from Poland, including jazz/classical pianist Mateusz Kolakowski:

Nine years ago, the clarinetist, improvisational whistler and musical educator Brad Terry hosted in the United States three young musicians he had worked with in Poland. I mean young.

Mateusz Kolakowski, the pianist, was thirteen. In this picture from that period, we see him with Terry. Bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Tomek Torres were fifteen. Terry toured the country with them in his old Dodge van, overnighting in RV parks and driveways and playing whenever they could, sometimes in paying gigs.
[...]

As for Baranski's former trio mates, Kolakowski is still pursuing Chopin, Paderewski and jazz. Torres, though he is Polish, is exploring his Latin heritage.

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Pianist Hamelin sets high bar
Denver Post - Denver,CO,USA

A preview to a Denver recital appearance by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, where he reveals his Chopin-inspired composing ambitions:

In addition to a couple of Haydn sonatas, two Chopin works and Leopold Godowsky's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Johann Strauss' "Wine, Women and Song," Hamelin will perform two of his recently composed etudes.

"They are part of my soon-to-be-completed project to compose an etude in every minor key," said the virtuoso, who began his piano studies at age 5 on the urging of his pharmacist father. "I was much younger when I started the project, but then, composing was never the preponderance of my work. I think of myself as a pianist who writes, not the other way around."

Hamelin describes his compositional style as "tonal with lots of chromaticism."

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The Chopin Currency - April 11, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Finale at the Wichita Symphony
The Wichita Eagle - Wichita,KS,USA3

Three-paragraph preview of Ingrid Fliter's appearance in Kansas:

1) Fliter won the Gilmore Artist Award in 2006, with its top prize of $300,000. The cachet that came with the award elevated her career. Her calendar filled with concert dates and she signed on with the EMI record label to produce an all-Chopin CD. It was released this month.

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Review: Orchestra of Opera North with Evgenia Rubinova *****
Yorkshire Post - Leeds,England,UK

More praise for Evgenia Rubinova in Yorkshire...

A young musician who understands a composer's intentions and successfully conveys that to an audience is a delight indeed.

So it is with Evgenia Rubinova, a pianist fully in command of any technical difficulties. Her performance of Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto was enthralling, from her first entry, through the slow movement with which she held our breath with astonishing gentleness, to the light exhilaration of the finale. She is an artist with penetrating musical insight and a self-effacing calm that holds her listeners – not so much in the palms of her own hands, but more so within the composer's spirit.

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Famed pianist visits site of his debut at age 10
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA

Acclaimed Chopin interpreter Byron Janis returns to his Pittsburgh hometown, filmmaker in tow...

He is in town as the subject of a documentary on his life by filmmaker Peter Rosen. With Janis' wife, Maria Cooper Janis (the daughter of actor Gary Cooper), they also are visiting the pianist's childhood home in Squirrel Hill and his elementary school, Colfax. Janis went on to a celebrated career as a interpreter of Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and more....
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Read Byron Janis' essay on Chopin here

A cultural plenary: Heritage label, jobs in culture, subtitles
EurofundingMag - Paris,France

A Chopin 2010 bill is afoot in the European Parliament...

Another proposal is for 2010 to be made the European year to celebrate the life of Chopin and 2011 the European year of Greek and Latin classics. ...
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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Musical Interlude
By Mirek(Mirek)

A montage from a Chopin film...

... lonely day outside or that the actor reminded me somewhat of my son. Whatever the reason, this clip melted me. It is a montage of photos from a Polish Chopin film (CHOPIN PRAGNIENIE MILOSCI, 2002) scored with Chopin's Waltz no. ...

mirek blog - http://mireklipinski.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 4, 2008

Chopin News, Previews, Rants, and Reviews:

New award recognizes contribution to the arts
Mississauga News - Ontario, Canada

Some true Chopin 2010 Information...

"Hollywood has its Oscars and Mississauga has its Freddys.
Mayor Hazel McCallion accepted the first Freddy in honour of the contribution she has made to the arts in Mississauga and Canada at a special celebration of composer and pianist Frederick Chopin's 198th birthday yesterday at the John Paul II Polish Cultural Centre on Cawthra Rd. Greg Glista, the Mississauga resident who is coordinating the fundraising for the week-long Chopin Festival that will be held in Mississauga in 2010 for the composer's 200th birthday, told The News, "we decided to make our fundraising different and exciting," by inaugurating the Freddys.

"We named the award after Frederick Chopin, and we were looking to honour someone who has made a significant contribution to the arts."

Tina Torlone gives a vocal presentation of the works of Frederick Chopin yesterday at a celebration of the composers 198th birthday at the John Paul II ...
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Cheap Shots

A student-newspaper columnist's suggestion for "an hour's worth of music that will change your life," puts Our Man Fredyryk cheek-by-jowl with The Beatles, Albert King, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix et al...

Henderson State University Oracle - Arkadelphia,AR,USA
5:59 - "Nocturne in C sharp Minor, Op 48 No 1" by Frederic Chopin. Musical mastery embodied, Frederic F***ing Chopin. Does that really need any further ...
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Chopin in the YouTubeOSphere:

Is it just Yr Hmble Edtr's impression or are there suddenly a lot more audio-only "video" postings on YouTube? Witness a sudden spate of uploads of pieces recorded by Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924), Grünfeld was the first pianist of significance (excluding Brahms's rather opaque 1889 cylinder) to make any kind of recordings, which he commenced in 1899.

He left recordings of works by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Grieg, Debussy, Liszt, Brahms and others; but Grünfeld was known primarily as a provider of light entertainment music in Vienna, and his arrangements of Strauss's music are his most famous and enduring legacy.

Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924): Chopin - Mazurka in B min op.33
By rss@youtube.com (d60944)
He left recordings of works by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Grieg, Debussy, Liszt, Brahms and others; but Grünfeld was known primarily as a provider of light entertainment music in Vienna, and his arrangements of Strauss's music are his most ...
YouTube :: Tag // him - http://youtube.com/rss/tag/+him.rss

The Chopin Currency - Feb. 13, 2008

Chopin Bicentennial (Chopin2010) News:

The Polish Minister for Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski has unveiled the main line of activities of his ministry, including the Chopin Bicentenary....

Culture ministry reveal plans

Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland
The programme of the Chopin Year in 2010, the bicentenary of the composer’s birth, is in the final stage of preparation. A thorough refurbishment of The ...
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Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Amedeo Modigliani Quartet
Washington Post - United States
Pianist Jean-Fr¿d¿ric Neuberger, all of 21, has already made his Kennedy Center debut, recorded the complete Chopin etudes and appeared with top-tier ...
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Blechacz makes Rome debut
Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland
The programme included works by Mozart, Debussy, Karol Szymanowski and Chopin’ Preludes. It was the CD featuring Chopin’s Preludes – recorded under an ...
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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Eternal Sonata
By BY: MAX PAGE
Eternal Sonata is the latest RPG from Tri-Crescendo, starring - of all potential heroes - Frederic Chopin. Yes, that Chopin - the Poet of the Piano, the famous composer who tragically died of tuberculosis aged only 39. ...
PCSTATS - http://www.PCSTATS.com

Living inside a snow globe
By Jeff and Mary(Jeff and Mary)
You can listen to an excerpt played by the great Artur Rubinstein here: http://www.amazon.com/Artur-Rubinstein-Chopin-Collection-Nocturnes/dp/B000003ENY. Click on "listen to samples" and scroll down to the bottom of the list, to #19. ...
Jeff and Mary's Excellent Adventure - http://jeffandmarysexcellentadventure.blogspot.com/