Chopin’s Competition in the Polish Pavilion
80 pianists from 20 countries. 17th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition will begin on 1 October in Warsaw. Thanks to the cooperation between Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and Fryderyk Chopin Institute, in the Polish Pavilion at Expo 2015 in Milan a surprise will be waiting for our visitors – live transmission of all the concerts.
The competition auditions will be preceded by two inauguration concerts. The first one, on 1 October, can be watched in the Polish Pavilion live. Martha Argerich and Nelson Goerner will perform with the Warsaw Philharmonic under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk; and on 2 October, Garrick Ohlsson with the Warsaw Philharmonic Men’s Choir and Orchestra under the baton of Wojciech Rajski. The competition auditions will begin on 3 October at 10:00 AM and we will have a live transmission of them in our Pavilion. Pianists efforts will be judged by a 17-person international jury led by Prof. Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. We will find out their verdict during the night of 20/21 October; and on 21 October at Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, the Prizewinners’ Concert will take place.
Among those taking part in the October competition, the most numerous groups are from Poland (15 people) and China (14 people); beyond this, no less than 12 pianists from Japan; 9 from South Korea; 6 from Russia; 4 from the United States; 3 each from Italy, Canada and Great Britain; 2 from the Czech Republic; and 1 representative each from Belarus, Croatia, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Latvia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan will be appearing.
Schedule of all performances can be found here: http://chopincompetition2015.com/calendar. Apart from the pianists performances in the Polish Pavilion at Expo there will be also a possibility to watch interviews, tv materials ecc. 10 minutes before performances.
Organized since 1927 in Warsaw, the Chopin Competition numbers among the oldest music tournaments, and at the same time, is the only monographic competition of such standing in the world. In a four-round rivalry, the pianist will perform only compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (each of the finalists will play, all told, nearly 3 hours of music). The 10 pianists admitted to the final round will perform one of Chopin’s two piano concerti, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk. The winner will receive the Gold Medal and a prize in the amount of EUR 30 000, as well as numerous concert propositions. Beyond this, thanks to a collaboration between The Fryderyk Chopin Institute and the Deutsche Grammophon label, on 6 November, a Chopin album representing a competition chronicle of the Competition winner will be released. The pianists will also be fighting for prizes for the best performance of mazurkas, a polonaise, a concerto and a sonata, as well as numerous special prizes.
source: chopincompetition2015.com