Kraków: 14th Easter Ludwig van Beethoven Festival opens
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The opening of the exhibition of manuscripts in the Jagiellonian library in Kraków on the coming Thursday, 18th March, opens this year’s Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. Although held in Warsaw since 2004, the festival is hosted also in Kraków. This time, the traditional exhibition of manuscripts presents Schumann’s songs, Chopin’s waltzes, mazurkas, and other solo works, as well as the autograph of the Sonata in A flat major taken down by Beethoven himself, together with his notebook with drafts of piano concerts. The exhibition closes on 2nd April. Its opening will be accompanied by a performance by Julia Vanyushina. In the evening, Louis Lortie will perform all Fryderyk Chopin’s études at the Kraków Philharmonic Hall.
On 21st March, the Philharmonic Hall will resound with Chopin’s Piano concerto in F minor, Op. 21 arranged for piano and string quartet performed by Maria Machowska (violin), Agata Szymczewska (violin), Artur Rozmysłowicz (viola), Rafał Kwiatkowski (cello), and Janusz Olejniczak himself (piano). The programme includes a work by the other patron of this year’s festival, Robert Schumann, namely the Piano quintet in E flat major. Op. 44.
There are, however, more attractions awaiting Kraków music lovers: on 25th March, Mísia, the Portuguese singer perfectly well known to the lovers of fado, will perform the programme entitled Our Chopin Affair, prepared especially for the Festival. Interviewed by Beethoven Magazine, Mísia said:
“These are not going to be Chopin’s works, but music composed by my Argentinean collaborator, the pianist Daniel Shvetz, on the themes taken from your great composer, and inspired by the climate of his works. I sense a similar feeling in his music, in a few compositions, to what is in fado: for example the Reverie (Dumka). it could have been an original composition in the Portuguese style. [Laughs.] I feel in his notes also loneliness, possibly yearning for the homeland.”
The detailed programme of Kraków concerts is accessible from the Program menu, under the Kraków tab (close to the end of the list).
You are cordially invited!