The National Chopin Institute, the organiser of the event, has told the media that even though most of the orchestral concerts had to be cancelled, the programme of chamber concerts and line-up of featured soloists looks impressive.
The pianists billed during the festival include Warsaw International Chopin Competition prize-winners Garrick Ohlsson, Charles Richard-Hamelin, Yulianna Avdeyeva and Krzysztof Jabłoński, as well as Ivo Pogorelic, Nelson Goerner, Kate Liu, Eric Lu, Szymon Nehring and Nikolai Lugansky.
The Belcea Quartet is to perform Beethoven’s string quartets at three concerts to mark this year’s 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Highlights of the festival include a concert performance of Stanisław Moniuszko’s opera The Countess by the Italian ensemble Europa Galante conducted by Fabio Biondi. This is a continuation of Europa Galante’s exploration of the output of the father of Polish national opera. In previous editions of the Chopin and his Europe Festival, Europa Galante performed Moniuszko’s Halka and The Raftsman.
The festival opens on August 15 and will run until August 31.
Live streams of all the concerts will be available free of charge on the YouTube channel of the National Chopin Institute and on social media.
Launched in 2005, the Chopin and his Europe Festival will be held for the 16th time.
(mk/pk)