The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw is one of the most important music events globally. Since 1927, it has attracted young pianists from all over the world, and its winners – such as Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman, Rafał Blechacz, and Bruce Liu – often launch brilliant international careers. Artists such as Ivo Pogorelich (in 1980) and Dmitri Shostakovich (in 1927) took part in it too, although they did not win the main prizes. At the NFM, we will hear this year’s winner of the prestigious competition live. This is a unique opportunity to meet an artist standing at the threshold of a great path – in a repertoire that requires not only virtuosity, but above all a deep understanding of the style and spirit of Fryderyk Chopin’s music.

The Polish composer’s work is a world in its own right, full of subtle emotions, poetics and forms. Although they are often rooted in Classical patterns, they are based on individual solutions. Chopin combined the technical advancement of his works with extraordinary sensitivity: lyricism is intertwined with drama, and the simplest gesture can move more deeply than virtuosic showoff. The artist drew on vocal music – he loved Italian operas and folk songs and blended these influences with bold harmonies and refined ornamentation. His music speaks the language of emotions but does not fall into pathos – it suggests rather than imposes, tells rather than illustrates. During the recital, we will probably hear pieces representing different stages of the composer’s work: perhaps there will be early or late nocturnes, brilliant etudes, preludes, ballades, in which the epic quality meets dramatic tension, probably late mazurkas – some of Chopin’s most intimate and personal works, or maybe it will be one of the sonatas or one of the independent pieces, like Barcarolle in F sharp major or Berceuse in D flat major. The programme, although not yet known, will certainly show the versatility of both the composer and the performer. The new winner of the Chopin Competition will stand before the audience at a symbolic moment as an heir to a great tradition and at the same time the creator of their own interpretative path. It will be an encounter with music that continues to move generations of listeners.