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Chopin Festival in south-west Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 04.08.2018 08:00
The International Chopin Piano Festival opened on Friday in the spa town of Duszniki, south-western Poland, with a recital by pianist Wojciech Świtała.
Photo: Free-Photos/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative CommonsPhoto: Free-Photos/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons

The concert was a tribute to Andrzej Merkur, the long-time chairman of the festival’s organising committee, who died a few months ago.

Festival highlights include a recital by British pianist Jonathan Plowright to mark this year’s centenary of Polish independence.

In addition to Chopin, the recital on Sunday will feature work by composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who was also a statesman and one of the fathers of Polish independence.

In recent years Plowright has done much to promote Polish music internationally.

Featured artists at the Duszniki festival also include Poland’s Lidia Grychtołówna, who turned 90 last month, and several up-and-coming stars such as Daniel Ciobanu (First Prize winner of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Competition for pianists) and Alexander Ullman (First Prize winner of the 2017 Liszt Competition in Utrecht).

Duszniki hosts the oldest music festival in Poland. Launched in 1946, it is being held for the 73rd time.

It commemorates Chopin’s stay in the spa town in 1826. Just 16 years old at the time, Chopin came to Duszniki (then called Bad Reinerz) for treatment and gave two benefit concerts.

(mk/pk)

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