Chopin and His Europe festival draws to a close

One is a recital by Japanese pianist Aimi Kobayashi. The other is a concert by the Warsaw Philharmonic under its Music Director Jacek Kaspszyk.

The concert will feature works by Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the greatest living composers, Emil Młynarski, a Polish composer and conductor who died in 1935, and Sergey Prokofiev.

The soloist in Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto is up-and-coming Italian pianist Beatrice Rana.

The theme of the two-week festival is “From Italy to Poland: from Mozart to Bellini.”

The event has attracted many highly-acclaimed pianists, including Seong-Jin Cho, Christian Richard-Hamelin and Eric Lu (first, second and fourth prize winners at last year’s Chopin Competition in Warsaw), Andreas Staier, Nelson Goerner, Jan Lisiecki, Jonathan Plowright, as well as tenor Ian Bostridge.

Held this year for the 12th time, the Chopin and His Europe festival has developed over the years into one of Europe’s top musical events. (mk/pk)