Garrick Ohlsson is one of the best interpreters of Fryderyk Chopin’s music. The world-famous pianist and winner of the Chopin Competition in 1970 in Warsaw has excellent technique and unheard-of poetic sensitivity. During the January recital, he will present a wide selection of works by the most famous Polish composer, belonging to various genres and evoking a whole range of emotions.

Frederic Chopin, fascinated by the possibilities of the human voice, strove to endow his piano music with a vocal quality. He managed to achieve this in his nocturnes – lyrical piano miniatures, called “songs of the night”. During the recital, we will hear those written in the early 1830s – the Nocturne in F major op. 15 no. 1 and the Nocturne in B major op. 9 no. 3. A similar mood reigns in Chopin’s Barcarolle in F sharp major, dating from his mature period. “The crown of Chopin's work” or “a masterpiece built of strength and passion” are just a few descriptions of the Fantasy in F minor op. 49. The work is characterized by freedom of Romantic expression. The whole will be crowned by the virtuoso Scherzo in C sharp minor. The term scherzo is synonymous with a musical joke, although in Chopin it takes on a completely different meaning. The artist made it a work of great dramatic power.

Chopin worked on the Impromptu in F sharp major op. 36 in Nohant after returning from Mallorca, already seriously ill. This work full of musical mysteries will precede the sonata ending the recital. Although the composer was an undisputed master of piano miniatures, from time to time he also reached for larger forms. These include the Sonata in B flat minor – one of the masterpieces of Romantic music. The central part of this composition is a poignant funeral march, and its finale is one of the most enigmatic fragments in all piano literature.