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Chopin's Birthday Concert 2023

This birthday concert celebrates Chopin with a special gift of a newly commissioned work by the Friends of Chopin Australia from Penelope Thwaites.

Chopin Vive

This concert celebrates 50 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Poland, 1972-2022.

Chopin’s Birthday Concert 2021

This birthday concert program featured a selection of Mazurkas and all four of Chopin’s Ballades.

Heart of Poland

A concert commemorating the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in Poland and its Nazi occupation through the music and heart of Chopin.

Summers in Nohant

Kotaro Nagano presented an intimate look at the masterpieces of Chopin composed during his seven summers and autumns in Nohant, 1839-1846

Chopin’s Birthday Celebration 2019

This birthday concert celebrated the joy of life in folk music as a musical gift to Chopin.

Chopin in the Garden

Taking inspiration from the open air recitals in Warsaw, Paris and Żelazowa Wola, Łukasz Krupiński performs for an alfresco audience in a Canberra private garden.

Chopin Among the ANZACs

The culmination of a research project begun in 2015 by Wanda Horky was this special concert event held at All Saints Ainslie.

Alexander Yau in Concert

The Friends presented Alexander Yau in concert at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane. Alexander received the Sonata/Preludes Prize for his performance of the complete set of Chopin Preludes in the 3rd Australian International Chopin Piano Competition.

Chopin’s Birthday Celebration 2018

Kotaro Nagano programmed a recital in two halves. The first half celebrated music composed in Chopin’s birth year 1810. The second half celebrated the genius of Chopin and the sound of the Pleyel piano.

3AICPC17

The 3rd Australian International Chopin Piano Competition was held in Australia from 10-17 September 2017.

Dinner with Monsieur Chopin

A fundraising dinner for the 3rd Australian International Chopin Piano Competition 2017 exploring Polish food and recipes from George Sand.

Finding the Chopin Style: Part II - 1841 to 1849

Kotaro Nagano programmed a continuation of the development of Chopin’s style from 1841 to 1849, and the emergence of the unmistakable ‘Chopin sound’

Łukasz Krupiński in Recital: The Ties that Bind

Łukasz Krupiński performed a program of work of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, and Chopin, illustrating a thread of influence between all four composers.

Back to the Future

A program exploring the idea that all music is “contemporary” when it is written if it challenges the expectations of the audience and innovates in its use of harmony, structure, and tonality.

From Harpsichord to Piano

A recital at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Music showing the development of the keyboard from harpsichord to the modern Steinway.

Finding the Chopin Style: Part I - to 1839

Kotaro Nagano explored the style of the early Chopin in this program.

Chopin and Friends

Konrad Olszewski performed a recital of Chopin, music that Chopin admired, music from his intimate circle of friends, and from later composers inspired and influenced by Chopin.

My Journey to find the Heart of Chopin

A public lecture from Dr Steven Lagerberg, retired physician, author, on his ten-year quest to research the cause of Chopin’s death and to lobby the Polish government at the highest levels to exhume Chopin’s heart to examine it sufficiently to produce a definitive diagnosis. The lecture was accompanied with interludes of Chopin's music by Konrad Olszewski.

A Chopin recital on period instruments

Kotaro Nagano performed an all Chopin recital at the Australian National University School of Music on the School’s own 1847 Pleyel piano, and the Friends’ 1857 Erard piano.

Dinner with Monsieur Chopin

A fundraising dinner for the 2nd Australian International Chopin Piano Competition 2014. This dinner explored Chopin as a gourmet with permission to use the research of Dr Wojciech Bońkowski.

Poet of the Piano

An imaginative program of Chopin’s music interwoven with fictional letters between Chopin and George Sand. 

Polish Music Days

Polish Music Days was a project of PianoClassic Association of Cracow, Poland showcasing Poland’s composers from the 19th century to the contemporary.

The Masters of the Piano – Chopin and Mussorgsky

Visiting pianist Dr Krystian Tkaczewski performed Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ and a selection of Chopin’s works at the Polish Embassy in Canberra.

The Unique Chopin

Dr Edward Neeman performed the complete Etudes Op. 10 and Op. 25 of Chopin in recital at the Polish Embassy in Canberra.

Chopin in Transcription

Transcription is the art of re-composing a piece for a particular instrument to be played
by one or more different instruments. This was very common in the salons and concert
halls of the 19th C as popular pieces. The pianist-composer Franz Liszt made famous
transcriptions for the piano of Beethoven’s symphonies, Schubert’s songs, and some
very beautiful transcriptions for solo piano of Chopin’s songs. Chopin himself often
performed his piano concertos in the homes of friends, but with the orchestra pat
transcribed for either string quartet or string quintet.
Transcription enables us to keep a piece of music alive and played, or to experience
new dimensions or new contexts to familiar music either as a listener or performer.
Our program concentrates on the sublime combination of piano and cello, with some
of Chopin’s most beautiful works for the two instruments, and some of his well known
solo piano pieces with the beautiful sound of the cello carrying the melod.

Australian Chopin Festival 2023

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